Corbels are an architectural piece of stone that jut out of a wall and are designed to carry any super incumbent weight. It is a similar item to a tassel or a bragger except that it is made of stone and not of wood.

The technique or corbelling has been used commonly since Neolithic times, and is where rows of corbels deeply keyed inside a wall support a projecting parapet or wall. You will find this type of arrangement in a lot or medieval architecture as well as in the Scottish Baronial style. It is also referred to in architectural vocabulary as the modillions of a Corinthian cornice.

As is the case with a lot of stonework terminology the term ‘corbel’ is French and is originally derived from Latin, corbellus a diminutive of ‘corvus’ which is a raven – names after the common beak like attributes. However in traditional Chinese architecture a similar load bearing element is referred to as a dougong and have been used for a long, long time.