The white, wooden church was built in a cruciform design in 1812 using plans drawn up by the architect Jarand Aasmundson Rønjom.

The old church site was surrounded on three sides by the river Hjartdøla and the ground was so damp that the foundations rotted, and it was not enough to have stone slabs underneath.

The new church was designed by Jarand Rønjom along with the builder Halvor Høgkasin.

The cruciform design had a choir in the eastern transept with a pulpit altar.

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.