Crow-steps

A crow-stepped gable, stepped gable, or corbie step is a stairstep type of design at the top of the triangular gable-end of a building. The top of the parapet wall projects above the roofline and the top of the brick or stone wall is stacked in a step pattern above the roof as a decoration and as a convenient way to finish the brick courses.
Early examples, from the 15th century onwards, are found in Denmark, England, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Switzerland, and Sweden. Crow-stepped gables were also used in Scotland as early as the 16th century.[1] Examples of Scottish crow-stepped gable can be seen at Muchalls Castle, Monboddo House, and the Stonehaven Tolbooth, all late 16th- and early 17th-century buildings and now you see one in Peebles.