’Lapsewood’ was a mansion built on Sydenham Hill by Charles Barry, who lived there for many years. It was later converted into flats and has now been demolished. The name first occurs as ’the Loppes’ (an alternative name for Ambrook Hill Coppice) in 1581. By 1790 it was referred to as the Laps, and in 1798 the College Surveyor, John Dugleby, recorded ‘the Lapse is now designed to remain in future as a wood’. The Lapse is the most easterly wood shown on the Estate Map of 1808.
