In 1638 through the influence of his friends Dugdale was created a pursuivant of arms extraordinary by the name of Blanche Lyon, and in 1639 he was promoted to the office of Rouge Croix Pursuivant of Arms in Ordinary. The accommodation in the College of Arms and the income from his post enabled him to pursue his research in London. According to his later account, in 1641 Sir Christopher Hatton, foreseeing the English Civil War and dreading the ruin and spoliation of the Church, commissioned him to make exact drafts of all the monuments in Westminster Abbey and the principal churches in England.