Bykhav was mentioned for the first time in the fourteenth century sources. Bykhav was the center of goods of the Lithuanian Grand Hetman Jan Karol Chodkiewicz.

Thanks to him, from 1590 to 1619, a castle was constructed on the high bank of the Dnieper River. This castle became one of the most powerful fortresses in the east of the Rzeczpospolita. From 1621, the castle became the property of the Lithuanian Grand Hetman Lew Sapieha, who extended it. Also at that time, town fortifications were built. In 1648, during the Khmelnytsky Uprising, the castle resisted the Cossacks commanded by Harkusza. From 1654 to 1655, for 11 months, it was besieged by the Cossack Ataman Iwan Zołotareńka.

In 1659, the Muscovite army captured the fortress, yet already during the winter of 1660–1661, hetman Stefan Czarnecki recaptured the castle. From 1703, the castles became the property of the Grand Hetman of the Crown Kazimierz Sapieha. At the beginning of the eighteenth century and then again in the nineteenth century, the castle was remodeled in the style of a brick-built Baroque mansion.

In 1772, after the first partition of Poland, Bykhav was annexed into the Russian Empire. The town administratively belonged to Starobychowski County[1.1]. From 1919, the town became a part of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Since 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Bykhav has been located within the borders of independent Belarus. To the present day, of the original castle, the main trunk of the palace and defensive walls, as well as the old barracks and an angular tower, have survived. Nowadays, the castle is being used by an industrial plant.