Then shortly after dawn a royalist foraging party from Lewes discovered de Montfort's army, and returned with the news. The royal forces were roused. A rapid council of war was held by king Henry and his brother Richard, along with their sons Edward and Henry. This was witnessed and sealed by Roger Leybourne . Following this council Henry and Richard arranged their divisions:
They left the priory "proceeded by the banner of the red dragon which portended general death to their enemies".
At this time, de Montfort's forces, "at a slow step, having formed into divisions, proceeded to the mill which is outside the house of the lepers of Lewes, and there the king came to meet them".
In the thirteenth century it is likely that this house of the lepers was the hospital of St. Nicholas, situated opposite the present prison, where many graves were found in the 19th century. A mill that was extant in the 16th century lies north of the hospital, near St. Annes church, and this is the probable place of the battle (not the one marked on the OS map).
However, given that each sides' divisions could have covered up to a thousand metres, and that combat was mobile, exact references to physical landmarks are probably impossible to determine.