hanging buttress
In later Gothic architecture and derivatives, a freestanding vertical rib or buttress which is supported from a wall by a corbel rather than by its own foundation. Photo from Charlottesville, Virginia, 2023. (Harris, 1977) According to Curl & Wilson, “Not a true buttress, but put there to maintain a sequence or series, and carried on a corbel. It might also help in the construction of a vault, and in such a case will have elements responding to the ribs.” (Curl & Wilson, 2016)