Jakub wrote the following report to the Trustees following his stay in Highgate in April 2025.

At the British Museum

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the Robert Anderson Trust for giving me the opportunity to undertake an intensive one-month research stay in London. I would also like to thank Mr Howard Davies for being such a wonderful host – his help with orientation and navigation in London and with all the formalities involved in accessing the libraries, as well as our conversations were invaluable. I very much enjoyed living in the beautiful, historic Highgate House, which offered me a genuine Victorian mansion experience.

During my stay, I gathered various sources of information about the archaeological heritage protection system in the UK (notably in England and Wales) for my doctoral project, entitled ‘Scientific, legal and practical aspects of archaeological heritage protection in Poland after 1989 in comparative perspective’. I spent most of my time at the British Museum, where I had the opportunity to gain a deeper insight into the day-to-day work of the Portable Antiquities Scheme and the Treasure Department.

I was particularly interested in the legislation and practice surrounding amateur metal detecting and the search for portable antiquities, as well as the valuation process and the granting of rewards for valuable finds (‘treasure cases’). On the first day of my visit, I attended a meeting of all the Finds Liaison Officers from south-eastern England, which was held at the British Museum. At the end of my visit, I took part in a meeting of the Treasure Valuation Committee, which gave me an insight into the entire process of valuing a portable antiquity that was to be declared treasure under the Treasure Act 1996.

With an officer from the Metropolitan Police Heritage Crime Unit at Charing Cross Police Station

During my time in London, I had the opportunity to meet with various professionals and academics who are involved in the protection of archaeological heritage at different levels. I visited Charing Cross Police Station, where I had a long and inspiring conversation with an officer from the Metropolitan Police’s special unit dealing with crimes against cultural heritage. I also had a unique opportunity to meet, in person, Rupert Mitford, 6th Baron Redesdale, vice-chairman of The All Party Parliamentary Archaeology Group (APPAG). He was so kind as to show me the Houses of Parliament, after which we had lunch together with him and prof. Michael Lewis (Head of Portable Antiquities & Treasure at the British Museum) in the House of Lords. I also had a very interesting and fruitful online discussion with a Historic England staff member, as well as the opportunity to attend online treasure inquests held by the Cornwall Coroner. I visited the British Museum Archaeological Research Collection (BM_ARC) – a brand new research space and collection storage facility located near Reading. That experience was very inspiring and interesting in terms of how a modern warehouse for archaeological finds and large museum collections may and should be organized.

Outside the Houses of Parliament

In addition to my research tasks and meetings, I explored London itself, walking down the streets to see all the iconic buildings and beautiful parks. Having a pint of cask ale in a traditional English pub was also a pleasure.

None of the exciting meetings and research activities mentioned above would have been possible without the generous support of the Robert Anderson Trust, for which I would like to thank you once again.

For more information about the other students in the 2025 cohort please see here.