Varvs kyrka

The present church was built in 1861 to designs by the architect Per Ulrik Stenhammar, in a plain neoclassical style with an apse and a west tower under a flat roof. It replaced a medieval church, probably dating from the early 1300s, which stood roughly 300 metres to the south-west; several gravestones remain on the site of the old church. Some stone from the demolished building was reused as material for the new one. The tower was originally intended to carry a tall spire, but a low, cross-topped tower cap was built instead.

The medieval predecessor once had its own tower, which was pulled down in the early 1600s and replaced by a freestanding bell frame. By the late 1850s the old church was judged too dilapidated to repair, leading to its demolition and the construction of the current building.

The interior has been altered more than once, most notably in 1975, when the sacristy was moved from the apse to a space beneath the gallery and the altar's screen wall was removed, creating the light, unified interior visitors see today. A triumphal arch separates the apse from the nave. Sources differ on the fate of a copy of Thorvaldsen's Christ figure bought in 1914 or 1901: one account says it served as the altarpiece until 1947, when it was moved near the font, while another states it has since been replaced by a new triumphal crucifix; a carved pear-wood crucifix is also recorded above the altar, so the current arrangement is unclear.

Several older furnishings survive from the medieval church, including a font partly carved from soapstone and hymn-number boards, which one source dates to the 1300s. A memorial stone on the north wall commemorates the priest Jacob Gadd, who died in Varv in 1698, and his family; its relief of a crucifixion scene indicates it once served as an altar frontal until 1913. Three further memorial stones survive, and the old church's door is kept in the porch. Textiles in the church, including a chancel carpet and vestments, are linked to the Tre Bäckar workshop at Varnhem associated with Agda Österberg.

The organ case at the west gallery has a complicated history: it is said to derive from a mid-17th-century instrument later moved to Röks kyrka and altered by Jonas Wistenius, before being bought for Varv in the 1870s. The current mechanism dates from a 1922 rebuild by Nordfors & Co and has seven stops, though one source notes the pipework is now unplayable owing to mould damage, with a digital organ used instead. Two bells hang in the tower, one said to date from around 1500 and a smaller one cast in 1832.