A plank seat on splayed legs, long enough for three or four to sit at a table. Benches, not chairs, are what people actually sit on: they are cheap, they take whoever arrives, and they push under the table out of the way. In a hall the bench a person is seated on says precisely where they stand, which is why the word for the furniture and the word for the rank are so often the same.
Bench
Long backless wooden seat for a table, hall, or workshop.