Wooden Settle Chair
These wooden settle chair pieces are heavy, high-backed seats designed to block drafts in old hallways and firesides.
Wooden Settle Chair
A wooden settle chair combines a high wooden back, enclosed sides, and solid seating into a single heavy form designed to deflect cold draughts. These pieces appear in forms ranging from compact children's lambing chairs to long multi-seater church pews and box settles.
The versions most common on this page date from the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, constructed predominantly in oak, pine, and fruitwood. Many examples incorporate lift-up seats or folding tabletops, functioning simultaneously as storage boxes or tables.
How they were made
Cabinetmakers and country joiners built these seats using solid timber planks, employing mortice and tenon joints secured with wooden pegs to withstand heavy daily use. Early pieces rely heavily on native British hardwoods like oak and elm, while later nineteenth-century examples often utilise pine or fruitwood.
Surfaces receive varying treatments, from hand-waxed finishes that highlight the natural grain to historic painted layers in grey or blue. Elements such as panelled backs, carved details, and integrated storage drawers require precise hand carpentry rather than mass production.
Wooden Settle Chair Retail Price Guide 2026
Typical asking prices for wooden settle chair among the pieces listed under this phrase on Sellingantiques today, from the lower quarter to the upper quarter. They describe what is for sale here now, not the wider market.
The furniture spans multiple forms, encompassing box settles, lambing chairs, monks benches, and church pews.
What varies in quality
The distinction between standard utility seating and exceptional examples lies in the integrity of the timber and the sophistication of the joinery. Pieces featuring thick, well-figured oak boards with original panel construction sit firmly above utilitarian benches assembled from thinner modern replacements.
Proportion and regional character dictate desirability, where vernacular quirks like barrel backs or integrated armrests display the maker's local tradition. Original surface patination, whether an untouched wax finish or genuine old paint, elevates a piece far above stripped or heavily restored alternatives.
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The Wooden Settle Chair Glossary
- Settle
- A long wooden bench with a high back and solid arms designed to keep out draughts. Many incorporate a box compartment beneath the seat for storage.
- Lambing chair
- An enclosed fireside armchair with solid wooden wings and a high back. These traditionally kept shepherds warm during lambing season.
- Monks bench
- A convertible piece of furniture featuring a hinged top that folds down to form a table. When upright, the top serves as a high chair back.
- Box settle
- A heavy seat featuring a enclosed compartment accessed by lifting the seat lid. This form combines seating with household storage.
- Vernacular
- Furniture made by local craftsmen using regional materials and traditional styles rather than following formal metropolitan designs.
Wooden Settle Chair: Frequently Asked Questions
What is a wooden settle chair used for?
These pieces served historically as principal seating near hearths and in entrance halls. Their high backs and solid sides acted as windbreaks in draughty domestic spaces.
Many examples also doubled as storage chests or conversion tables. The enclosed base held blankets or household goods while keeping cold air away from the occupant.
How do I tell an 18th-century settle from a Victorian one?
Eighteenth-century examples typically display hand-pegged mortice and tenon joinery with deep, patinated oak surfaces shaped by centuries of use. Their proportions often look heavier and more rustic.
Victorian pieces frequently incorporate machine-cut elements, revival styles like Gothic or Jacobean, and softer woods such as pine. They also show up more often with painted finishes or applied decorative carvings.
Where should I place a wooden settle chair at home?
These seats suit large hallways, boot rooms, or spacious living areas where their high backs can anchor a room. They require sufficient wall space to display their panelled or carved rear sections.
Keep them away from direct heat sources like radiators to prevent the old timber from drying out and splitting. Ensure the floor is level so the heavy wooden frame rests evenly.
Are all wooden settle chairs made of oak?
While oak dominates the earlier centuries, builders utilised many different native and imported timbers. Pine, elm, fruitwood, and mahogany all appear frequently across various periods and regions.
Painted pine versions are especially common in nineteenth-century country pieces. Hardwoods like rosewood or elm appear in specific regional or overseas pieces.