Spekeröds kyrka

The church's origins are usually placed around 1180–1219, a dating based partly on its carved wooden font, though the exact date depends on interpretation of the surviving evidence. It was reputedly dedicated to Saint Bartholomew, and a document from 1388 refers to it under an older form of the parish name. The building has been altered substantially over the centuries, most notably in two major campaigns.

In 1734–1735 the narrower medieval chancel was demolished and replaced with the present three-sided one, and larger windows were installed. The timber tower is thought to date from around 1742, replacing an earlier bell-stage, and was itself rebuilt in 1864, when it apparently received its current copper-clad spire and gilded weathervane. A second major campaign in 1905 added the two cross-arms and sacristy in brick, along with a new organ, gallery, pews and other fittings; elaborate gable detailing from this period was later simplified during renovations in the 1920s, giving the exterior its present, more classical appearance.

Inside, the church is dominated by an unusual coffered mansard-style ceiling, painted grey-white with pale grey beams. Equally striking is the Baroque altarpiece and pulpit, both dating from the first half of the seventeenth century, closely related in style to similar furnishings found in several neighbouring Bohuslän churches. Their painted decoration includes motifs such as Danish flags, reflecting the period before the Peace of Roskilde in 1658, and they were restored to something like their original colouring during the 1926 renovation, after decades under a later, plainer altar.

Among the church's older furnishings is a sixteenth-century triumphal crucifix, thought to be Swedish or Norwegian work showing Lübeck influence, bearing symbols of the four evangelists on the cross itself. It is said to resemble a similar crucifix in nearby Hålta church. The medieval rood arch that would once have framed it was likely removed during the eighteenth-century rebuilding, and the crucifix now stands near the east windows.

The two church bells are said to produce an unusually muted, slow sound, apparently because their clappers strike only one side of each bell — attributed to the design of their suspension. The organ case is thought to originate from one of the church's earlier instruments, from either 1860 or 1906, though the pipework has been replaced and enlarged several times; the current mechanical organ was built in 1981, incorporating some older pipework.

Further changes followed in the twentieth century, including central heating in 1937, coloured chancel glass added in the 1950s and 1960s, and a renovation around 1999–2000 that altered the interior arrangement, including the position of the altar and colouring of the walls, along with exterior repairs to the render, tower cladding and roof.