The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1280, but the church was not new that year. The church was probably a stave church, possibly from the 12th century. In 1626, the old church was torn down and replaced with a new timber-framed building on roughly the same location. The new church was not fully completed until 1635.[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 1874, a new church was built immediately to the north of the old church. After the new church was completed, the old church was torn down.[3]
