seize Dawley Castle. He was sent to London and tried for treason. He and his fellow conspirators were condemned to death, but escaped during "sermon time" from the Gatehouse, the prison at Westminster where they were held. He escaped to Bristol and lived in hiding as "Dr Hunt", a medical doctor. In 1651, shortly before the 1638 patent was due to expire, he set up lead smelting works in partnership with connections of a medical patient, using an "old belhouse for the bloomery" at Clifton, Bristol. This was probably a reverberatory furnace and the first known use of such for this purpose. This did not work out, but it is possible that he was associated with a later venture at Stockley Slade (now Nightingale Valley) on the other side of the Avon. Metallum Martis After the Restoration, Dudd's lands reverted to him, having been sold by "usurping powers" in about 1652. His book Metallum Martis (1665—quoted above) is Dudd Dudley's personal view of his discovery, after he had unsuccessfully petitioned King Charles II, to restore his public offices and patents. Metallum Martis may be regarded as a prospectus, seeking investors to exploit his invention of coke smelting. This appears to have been successful as a furnace was built at Dudley (whose existence is recalled by the street name "Furnace Road". In subsequent litigation, Sir Clement Clerke (one of the partners) stated, Dud Dudley did heretofore build a furnace for making iron or melting ironstone to be blown or set on work by the strength of men and horses without the help of water. This melted down "ironstone with charcoal made of wood and pitcoal". Such a horsemill-powered blast furnace is almost certainly unique, and only operated for a few years. Dudley's last years are obscure. He probably lived in Friar Street, Worcester, where he had a house derived from his first wife's family. He may have practised as a doctor there. He married again and had a son in his old age. He died in 1684, at age 85. He was buried in the parish church St. Helen's, Worcester (25 October 1684), where he had erected a monument to his first wife, bearing the following Latin inscription (see illustration): The date of Dudley's death does not appear on the monument. Posterity The existence of Metallum Martis meant that many historians have noted his achievements. Dud has been seen as the