Osby

Osby lies in the wooded country of northern Scania, near the lake that bears its name. Its parish church has stood on the same site since the Middle Ages, serving a district of farms and forests close to the old frontier with Småland. The place-name refers to a river mouth, where the Driveån enters Lake Osby.

During the Scanian War, a gathering of several hundred local farmers seized the Swedish war chest at nearby Loshult in 1676. The conflict followed the transfer of Scania from Denmark to Sweden and brought warfare into the border districts. At Osby the growing parish expanded its church with new cross arms in 1701 and 1770; in 1834 the medieval nave was replaced by a much larger new one.