The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1280, but the church was likely built around the year 1140. The church was located on the farm Garå or Gardå on the island of Talgje. The church has a rectangular nave and a narrower, rectangular chancel with a stone apse. Originally, the church probably had a tower on the west end. The church was built as part of a large estate on Talgje. The estate was owned by old Norwegian nobility throughout the Middle Ages. Gaute Erlingsson owned the estate for a time.[3]
During a renovation and restoration in 1870, the south portal of the nave was moved to a newly built porch in the west and made wider. The chancel arch is the only one in Rogaland that is still intact. Before the restoration, there was a long runic inscription on the south wall that told who had the church built and that a charitable foundation had also been established, probably a hospital. Until 1840, the ruins of a rectangular stone building, possibly from the 13th century, were located just east of the church and they may have been (2nd generation of) such a hospital.[3]
