Alböke Church
Church environment
Alböke church and cemetery is located about 15 km north of Borgholm. The village and the church are located along the country road’s old route just east of what is now the path of road 136. The church is surrounded by farmland and in the village are several farms.
The Church
In Alböke, sometime in the middle of the 12th century, a stone church was built which consisted of an apse, nave and west tower. When the threat from the Baltic Vikings grew stronger an eastern tower was also built and the church was reinforced. It got in that way the shape of a pack-saddle church.
The pack-saddle church was built in the east-west direction with the chancel in the east. The population growth made the medieval church to small, and in 1859 it was decided to build a new church.
The drawings were made by Albert Törnquist and the work was led by master builder Peter Isberg from Algutsrum. The pack-saddle church stood intact while construction of the new church was going on and the new church was built perpendicular in the north-south direction. It made that the chancel and vestry came to be located in the north.
When the nave and the chancel was built, the medieval church was demolished and where its nave previously been, a new tower was erected of the stones from the medieval church. The church was consecrated in 1862.
The new church is dominated interior and exterior of neoclassic stylistic features like the round-headed windows, the bright church room and the ceilings wooden barrel vault.
In the interior there are also older stylistic features represented as movables and fixtures was transferred from the old church. Most prominent is the pulpit and altar both of which both are from the late 18th century and performed in the Rococo style.
Memorial grove
The Memorial grove is located northwest of the church. The grove is surrounded by a thuja hedge but is open to the east. A footpath paved with slabs of stone lead into the memorial grove.
To the west stands a wooden cross. There is also a flower bed with roses and summer flowers. In the flower bed is a large stone with a special appearance, the stone was found by a man named Söderberg in a moss in the village Askelunda.
Buildings
To the west of the church is a small building constructed of stone that is currently used as storage and the porters office. The main façade is clad with standing gray-painted wood paneling. The woodwork is painted white and the roof covered with black plate. The facades of stone can be of older date but the building is today heavily modernized.
Outside the cemeteries northwest corner, in connection with the cemetery wall, is a plastered building with standing wood paneling in the gable top. The plaster is coloured in white and the wooden paneling is painted blue, the joinery and doors are painted black.
Other
In the niche between the tower and the nave east of the church is a rune stone located. The upper part of the text is worn away. What remains is a small part of the text at the stones base.
In the niche between the tower and the nave west of the church is a part of the demolished medieval church, a middle column, placed.
In the northern part of the block A is a sundial. The disc is carried by a portion of the demolished medieval Church middle column.
Source: Kalmar Läns Museum (Kalmar County Museum)
Translation: Visitoland.com