Hovs kyrka

The church at Hov was built in the 12th century, making it one of the oldest in the district, and originally had a smaller chancel to the east; this was replaced towards the end of the medieval period by the present square-ended chancel. The vaults over the nave were added in the 14th century. It has been suggested, on the strength of a surviving image of the saint with the dragon once kept in the church, that Hovs kyrka was dedicated to St Michael, though this remains a matter of tradition rather than certainty.

Inside, later plasterwork has been removed to reveal medieval wall paintings. Eighteenth-century accounts describe painted coats of arms on the vaults and walls, including one said to be that of Birger Jarl, though the same sources note the heraldry described does not match his known arms, and that some of the family connections recorded were mistaken. These paintings were whitewashed over by the early 19th century.

By the mid-1700s the church was already considered too small for busy feast days, and a proposed eastward extension was never carried out. The tower's decayed upper section was demolished in 1765 and replaced with a new timber tower, painted red, yellow and white, said at the time to have been finished neatly and quickly. A later proposal to merge Hov with the parish of Appuna, whose own church had fallen into disrepair, was abandoned after local resistance; Appuna's church continued in use until a replacement was built there in 1887.

Among the furnishings is a carved oak figure of a lion or dragon in the south-west corner, possibly a remnant of a medieval royal seat, and an altarpiece reworked in 1719 by Bengt Wedulin around a medieval central panel. A pulpit painted white, blue and gold, a wooden font, and brass chandeliers donated by parishioners in the 18th century are also noted in older descriptions.

A notable discovery came during restoration work in 1914 and again in 1950, when carved stone fragments from early medieval Christian graves, apparently reused as building material when the church was raised in the 12th century, were found built into the walls. Around a hundred of these fragments, considered unique for their date, are now displayed in an exhibition in the tower chamber.