The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1380, but it was built well before that time. The first church may have been a stave church dating back to the 13th century. In 1629, the old church was torn down and replaced with a new timber-framed building in a long church style. Some of the materials from the old church were reused in the construction of the new church.[3]
In 1814, this church served as an election church (Norwegian: valgkirke).[4] Together with more than 300 other parish churches across Norway, it was a polling station for elections to the 1814 Norwegian Constituent Assembly which wrote the Constitution of Norway. This was Norway's first national elections. Each church parish was a constituency that elected people called "electors" who later met together in each county to elect the representatives for the assembly that was to meet in Eidsvoll later that year.[4][5]
In 1832, the church was torn down and replaced with a new church on the same site (this is the present church which is still in use). The new church was much larger, seating about 500 people.[3]
