The church of Oslob minus the rectory beside it which was gutted in a fire.

Oslob was established as a visita of Boljoon in 1690 and became an independent parish in 1848 with the Immaculate Conception as its patroness. The present day church of cut-coral stones was built by Father Julian Bermejo on May 10, 1830 following the plans of Bishop Santos Gomes Marañon and was finished 18 years later. The convent nearby was also started by Father Bermejo and was finished and reinforced with buttresses by Father Juan Aragones sometime between 1848 and 1850. Prior to the building of the church, the town of Oslob used to be located two kilometers to the south of the present-day location in a site now known as Daanglungsod.

The church was gutted in 1942 by Filipino guerrillas and again in 1955 from a fire of unknown origin. It was burned for the third time in a fire that started from one of the rooms in the parish house in the early hours of March 26, 2008. The church was eventually restored.

A street marker carved in stone. The street is named after Father Juan de Aragones, a parish priest of Oslob who became the bishop of the then diocese of Nueva Segovia.

The entire church complex is surrounded by a stone fence. At the southeastern portion of the complex are the unfinished remains of a military barracks. Outside the walls are the remains of a watchtower, one of the many that line the southeastern coast of Cebu.

Beside the church was the parish house or convento that had a clay-tiled roof. It was gutted down during the fire of March 26, 2008. Plans are being drawn however to rebuild this structure in its original form.

The unfinished remains of a military barracks right outside the church complex.

Across the church is the former mortuary chapel with a pediment decorated with a relief of a human skeleton. From the church and mortuary chapel, a small road to the north leads to the old cemetery. An old street marker engraved in one of the stone walls marks this road as Calle de Camposanto (Cemetery street). The street however is now known as Calle Eternidad (Eternity street).

The pediment of the church contains a carved relief of the Spanish Royal Coat of Arms with an inscription that says “EXMO. E YLLMO. SR D. FR SANTOS GOMES MARAÑON FORMA EL PLAN DE ESTA IGLESIA SE COMENZO EL 10 DE MAYO AÑO DE 1830″ Loosely translated it means “Most Excellent and Illustrious Lord Santos Gomes Marañon made the plan of this Church and (was) began on the 10th of May in the year 1830.”

A view of the church from the cuartel (left); Ruins of a watchtower across the church compound (right).