The church's distinctive circular plan sets it apart from the vast majority of Swedish parish churches. Two other round churches once stood nearby, in Agnestad and Dimbo, but both were demolished long ago, leaving Skörstorp as the only one still standing in the diocese. It was built in the later twelfth century, during the time of Bishop Bengt the Good.
The origins of the round-church form remain a matter of debate. One long-standing theory held that the circular shape was chosen for defensive purposes, since a curved wall is harder to breach than a flat one. A more recent and, to many, more compelling explanation links these buildings to the Rotunda of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, said to have been built on the site of Christ's tomb in the fourth century under the Roman emperor Constantine. Either account should be treated as informed conjecture rather than settled fact.
Architecturally, the round nave is extended by a rectangular porch and chancel. Vaulting was added to the ceiling in the 1400s or 1500s, while the chancel, apse and sacristy date from the 1660s; the sacristy was originally built as a burial chapel for the Spens family of Orreholmen. The roof, tarred black shingle over the circular hall, is topped by a tall Baroque spire raised in 1666, itself crowned with a small onion dome. The whitewashed interior, dating from the late medieval period, gives the church a simple, light character. Outside stands a separate, traditionally red-painted open bell frame from the 1700s, with a Renaissance-style hood.