Construction of the present church took place between 1843 and 1848, replacing a medieval stone church that was demolished in 1840. During the 19th century, many of Sweden's medieval churches were pulled down and replaced with larger buildings better suited to growing congregations; in the Diocese of Skara, more than a third of all churches date from this period, and Yllestad is one of them.
The earlier medieval church had a turbulent history: it was burned down by Danish troops during the 1560s but was subsequently rebuilt. When restoration work was carried out on the present church in 1954, the foundation walls of that older stone church were discovered beneath the floor, offering a physical link to the site's long history of worship.
Among the church's furnishings is a modern font of limestone, installed in 1963. The altarpiece takes the form of a wooden cross with a crown of thorns and a shroud cloth, a simple but striking devotional image.
The gallery organ dates from 1863 and was built by Svante Johansson, a farmer and local rural organ-builder from Liared. It was later renovated by his grandson, Nils Johansson, in 1953, and again by Nye Orgelbyggeri in 1968, reflecting a long tradition of local craftsmanship maintaining the instrument.