In the north of the old town, in the area of the "Bräu-Wiesen" around today's Anne Frank School, a high medieval Henneberg castle complex is located, which is considered to be the starting point for the first town fortifications. Initially, the settlement was fortified by ramparts and ditches in combination with palisades. There were three town gates and a gate at the witches' tower. Themar was granted town privileges in 1317. The construction of a defensive town wall with seven round towers and three half towers was only approved by the Counts of Henneberg in 1457 and was built from the 15th century onwards. Around 800m of the once 1650m long town wall still remains. The defensive towers include the Mauerturm, Torwiesenturm, Pulverturm, Stadtturm, Schlossturm, Hexenturm and Werrawiesenturm, according to more recent names.