The church dates from the second half of the 1100s, making it one of the oldest Romanesque churches in Falbygden. It has been extended westwards on more than one occasion to accommodate growing congregations, and the roof trusses still reflect this history: medieval trusses survive at the eastern end, eighteenth-century trusses in the middle, and trusses from 1907 towards the west.
Traces of the building's earlier appearance can still be seen on the exterior, including a bricked-up doorway on the south side and evidence of former windows. Until the 1700s the church had a stone tower on its west side; this was later removed, and today the church has a porch and a separate free-standing bell tower instead. One source records that Danish troops burned most of the church roof during hostilities in Västergötland in 1566, and that the building faced demolition threats in the 1800s before being reprieved and restored in 1907, with further restoration work in the twentieth century.
The present interior largely reflects a major renovation carried out around the mid-twentieth century, when later nineteenth- and early twentieth-century decorative additions in a national romantic style were removed in favour of a more original appearance. The altarpiece and pulpit, in a folk Baroque style, are generally dated to the seventeenth or eighteenth century depending on the source. The medieval sandstone font is thought to be the church's oldest furnishing, and the bells are said to date from the 1500s.stone. Visitors reach the churchyard through unusual stigluckor, or covered gate portals — Högstena has two, one of them close to the flower meadow on the sloping south side.
The church retains its 1943 organ facade on the gallery, although a digital organ is now used as the main instrument. A preserved parish storehouse also stands in a corner of the churchyard, a modest but characterful survival of the site's agricultural setting on the slopes of Plantaberget.