What is a monks bench?

It is a hall settle with a hinged back that swings down onto the arms to make a table. The word appears in 269 titles on Sellingantiques, sometimes spelled 'monk's' or 'monk'. Many also have a box seat, with a lid lifting to storage underneath. The dated entries put the bulk of them in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The name describes the form, not a monastic origin.

Which timbers do these benches come in?

Oak leads by a long way, named in well over a third of all titles. Pine, pitch pine, elm, fruitwood, cherrywood and chestnut cover the country and institutional work. Mahogany appears in 132 titles, walnut in 64, with rosewood turning up too. Those are the timbers of the formal hall and window seats. Outdoors it shifts to cast iron, wrought iron and teak, with a stone garden bench recorded once.

How old are most antique benches for sale?

The dated field spans 1690 to 1950, but under half the listings carry a clean year. '19th Century' alone accounts for 618 and 'Victorian' another 288, so a vague bracket is the commonest date you will read. Where decades are given they cluster in the early 20th century, with the 1920s, 1900s and 1910s well represented, alongside the 1880s, 1890s and Edwardian. Only 89 listings are given as 18th Century, and pre-Georgian oak surfaces in single instances.

Are garden benches part of this category?

Yes. 'Garden' appears in 286 titles, covering cast iron, wrought iron and teak seating, roughly one bench in eight. Wrought iron examples are often built from flat interlaced strapwork. Teak titles frequently note a silvered, weathered surface, and there are faux-bois pieces cast to look like branches.

Do benches often sell in pairs?

Pairs are a habit in this category. Around one listing in ten offers two benches, and a matched pair sits well above a single. A handful go further, with benches sold alongside their table as a set, or as a garden suite.

What unusual benches have turned up?

The oddities include a pig bench with slide-out legs, a folding Henley Regatta bench, an Air Ministry bench on cast iron legs, a jamb bench, a bacon settle, a marriage bench and a Black Forest carved bear seat. Provenance sometimes lands in the title rather than the description: an archbishop's palace, a named parish church, a named railway station, a tram, a court room and a billiard room all appear. Origins outside Britain and France are scarce but real, from Hungarian painted pine and Swedish and Austrian benches to Chinese, Japanese, Burmese, Syrian and a single Ceylonese veranda bench.

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Antique Benches

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A bench is the oldest form of seat furniture, a plank or joined board on legs meant to seat several people at table, in a hall, a church or a workshop.