Robert Swain was born in Lancashire and has lived in the county for all of his life. Much of his working life has been spent in accountancy, but photography has long been a major pastime.  From this has developed a major interest in local history and in writing.  Now, Robert has ten books to his name, all concerned with Lancashire or the South Lakes and Furness area of Cumbria, including right round Morecambe Bay. He spends much time on local history research, including in County Archives and libraries, where he finds much of fascination covering the areas he loves. 

He finds Morecambe Bay and its surrounding countryside to be particularly fascinating.  The Bay is constantly changing and Robert has seen it in all its moods.  Transport round the Bay was difficult right up to the coming of the railways.  This led to Robert doing much research in recent years and reaching his theories regarding the two churches side by side at Heysham.  He believes that the Bay caused the construction of a monastic settlement where people could wait until it was safe to cross to an Abbey on the far side.  The Bay also caused the meeting of the Celtic and the Roman ways of Christianity resulting in the two churches.  All this work has resulted in the controversial Morecambe Bay Solves the Heysham Mysteries.

Robert is also a great lover of the outdoors and is regularly to be seen out walking with his dog, the last two he has had both being pure greyhounds. Any dog he has owned has had to learn to travel on buses and trains and enjoy walking the many byways and along the towpath of the Lancaster Canal.  As he does not drive, all the places visited in his writings can be reached via public transport plus, often, a walk.  As a result of all his ramblings, he has many photographs of north Lancashire, the Lake District and the Furness area, a number of which have appeared in magazines and in his books.

However, besides the above, Robert loves to visit Scotland, where he has taken many pictures whilst doing walks in the West Highlands and in, broadly, the Pitlochry area.  Around there is known as 'Big Tree Country' and he has taken many pictures of trees at different times of the year.  Robert's dogs have had to visit those places as well as he enjoys their companionship when out rambling.

A number of Robert's pictures are available to buy at the Carnforth Station Local Information Centre, which is to be found at the famous station.  Come and see them when in Carnforth.