Östra Torps kyrka

The village of Östra Torp is medieval in origin, though the surrounding area was settled much earlier still: nearby Bronze and Stone Age remains, including passage graves known locally as Erkes dös and the Kungsdösarna, point to occupation long before the church itself existed. The original medieval church on this site was, like many others, demolished and replaced in the 1880s by a larger building.

That Victorian-era church proved short-lived. It burned to the ground on Palm Sunday 1909, reportedly during a service, destroying most of the medieval furnishings inside. A new church was built to replace it, consecrated in 1911 to designs by the architect Theodor Wåhlin.

The present building is small and unassuming, with a simple red metal roof and a weathercock on its spire, giving it something of the character of a medieval parish church despite its early twentieth-century construction. Inside, the atmosphere is warm and maritime in feeling, with a model ship hanging from the ceiling and a decorative scheme of blue and white.

Among the furnishings, the most notable survival is a Renaissance pulpit dating from the late sixteenth century, richly decorated with painted relief work. Having escaped the 1909 fire, it is the principal link to the church that stood here before.

The church's position, now on the edge of the modern settlement of Smygehamn, reflects how the area developed: Östra Torp was originally the parent village to the fishing hamlet of Smyge läge, which had no settled population until well into the eighteenth century. Over time the fishing community grew to eclipse the older church village, leaving the church in what can now seem a peripheral spot within the wider town.