[ noun ] shelf that projects from wall above fireplace <noun.artifact> in Britain they call a mantel a chimneypiece
Mantel \Man"tel\, n. [The same word as mantle a garment; cf. F. manteau de chemin['e]e. See {Mantle}.] (Arch.) The finish around a fireplace, covering the chimney-breast in front and sometimes on both sides; especially, a shelf above the fireplace, and its supports. The shelf is called also a {mantelpiece} or {mantlepiece}. [Written also {mantle}.]
When the statistics laid the exalted mantel of extreme livability on Pittsburgh, a city once known as "hell with the lid off," even Rand McNally didn't believe it at first.