Vallby kyrka

The church was first built in Romanesque style in the later twelfth century, with a narrower chancel to the east and a tower to the west that was wider than the nave itself. From early on it was annexed to the Premonstratensian monastery at Tommarp, which took the parish income in return for providing pastoral care, an arrangement that lasted until the Reformation reached Denmark in 1536 (the region was then Danish territory).

The church still has its medieval bell, cast in the fourteenth century, which bears an inscription confirming the dedication to Saint Laurentius. In the fifteenth century the original flat timber ceiling was replaced with vaulting, and painted decoration was added; only the westernmost paintings survive today. These depict the Nordic royal saints Olof, Knut and Erik, along with characteristic flower-filled vases, and are attributed to the so-called Fjälkinge group of church painters.

Beneath the former high altar a burial chamber was built, by 1485 at the latest, for members of the Ulfstand family of nearby Glimmingehus, including Jens Holgersen Ulfstand. Three large gravestones originally set in the chancel floor were moved to the porch in 1871. The construction of the vault is said to have caused subsidence in the church's walls, and a royal letter of 1559 reportedly permitted the churchwardens to use tithe income for urgent repairs; a date of 1560 carved on a pillar may mark this phase of rebuilding, though the precise extent of the work is unclear.

The church took its present cross-shaped form through further extensions: the nave was lengthened eastward and a north transept added in 1782, when the pulpit and an altar set still in use were acquired. The altarpiece, an oil painting showing Christ blessing children, was completed by Bengt Nordenberg in 1871. Between 1870 and 1871 a matching south transept, the tower and a rounded apse were added, giving the church its current cruciform plan.

A separate burial chapel was created in the former north porch after the death of Mette Rosencrantz, reflecting the continuing association between the church and the local noble families. The present organ, a mechanical instrument, was built in 1950 by the Danish firm Frederiksborgs Orgelbyggeri, replacing an earlier nineteenth-century organ.