Janakkala

Janakkala's parish landscape centres on the Church of St Lawrence, the youngest of Tavastia's medieval stone churches. It was probably consecrated on 19 September 1520. Its patron is identified as Åke Tott, the governor of Häme Castle, and three coats of arms of the Tott family remain on the eastern gable. The stone church connected a rural parish with one of the region's powerful noble households.

The original building was a rectangular, single-nave church with a sacristy and porch projecting from its longer sides. Local tradition places an earlier wooden church nearby; graves discovered during road works have been associated with that predecessor. The parish subsequently added a substantial bell tower between 1784 and 1792 under the master builder Martti Tolpo. Its stone lower storey formed an entrance to the churchyard, while the upper part also served as a parish granary. Worship, burial and the storage of grain thus came together in the same church precinct, whose buildings served practical as well as religious functions.