The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1280, but the church was likely built during the 12th century. Originally, the
stave church was located at Sæbø on an island in the estuary of a small river, about northwest of the present site of the church in Hjelmeland. In 1814, this church served as an
election church (). Together with more than 300 other parish churches across Norway, it was a polling station for elections to the 1814
Norwegian Constituent Assembly which wrote the
Constitution of Norway. This was Norway's first national elections. Each
church parish was a constituency that elected people called "electors" who later met together in each county to elect the representatives for the assembly that was to meet at
Eidsvoll Manor later that year. In 1858, a new church was built about to the southeast across the river on the site of the priest's farm. The new church was known as Hjelmeland Church, after the name of the farm on which it was located. The old church was torn down soon afterwards. ==See also==