Kämpinge senmedeltida kyrka: Den gotiska labyrinten mellan två kriser

The construction date for Kämpinge church on the Falsterbo peninsula was unknown until 1987. In that year, teachers and students from Lund University investigated the building and the cemetery. The church was found to be built around 1400 AD and designed with a nave, chancel and three-sided chancel gable. A side altar at the north transept and a high altar were documented, along with two separate floor levels and foundations for arches. The church was abandoned in 1632 and the parish was added to Räng. The cemetery was walled. The short period of use, just over 200 years, allowed the congregation to bury their dead at a clear distance from each other. Kämpinge church was unusual, as only 3 percent of the new churches in Skåne were builtafter 1350. The economic background of the parish and the church can be sought in herring fishing. After Danish royal power had relinquished control of the markets in Falsterbo and Skanör, the Hanseatic towns were able to stimulate fishing in many more places along the Scanian coast. Along with the burghers in the towns who owned properties in the villages, the farmers there may have seized the opportunity to fish to raise capital. Kämpinge kept its parish, priest and church building going from c 1400 until 1632 when drifting sand destroyed the economic conditions.