Klagstorp grew into the main settlement of the former Klagstorps kommun after gaining a railway connection, giving it a more town-like centre than the surrounding villages, though the church itself remains in the older, western part of the settlement. A medieval church once stood on this site, and nearby Brönnestad also had its own church, thought to have been demolished as early as the sixteenth century.
In the mid-nineteenth century, cathedral architect Carl Georg Brunius oversaw a renovation of the old Klagstorp church, completed in 1851. Within little more than a decade, however, the parish judged the building too small for its growing population and commissioned a new church from the young architect Helgo Zettervall, then only 33. Builder Ljungberg carried out the work for a tender sum of 23,000 riksdaler, and the new church was consecrated in 1868 — though repairs proved necessary again only four years later. Many of Zettervall's more ambitious ideas for the interior were never realised.
The church's octagonal tower retains its lower section from the earlier medieval building, even though the tower itself was a later addition. Long, wide buttresses line the sides of the nave, six to each side, and two iron-clad doors are set into the north wall. Large lime trees frame the churchyard, and a hexagram symbol can be seen near the entrance facing the road, an unusual detail for visitors to look out for.
A thorough renovation took place in 1939 under the direction of cathedral architect Eiler Graebe. Most of the church's fittings and furnishings date from the various building campaigns, but the three chancel windows are later still, installed in 1955 and often singled out as the interior's most memorable feature. The nave itself is light-filled, with whitewashed walls and vaulted ceiling.
The church has had at least two organs: an 1854 instrument by Johan Lambert Larsson of Ystad, and the present pneumatic organ built in 1942 by A. Magnussons Orgelbyggeri of Gothenburg.