Swallow studied at Birmingham Polytechnic, where she completed a Bachelor of Arts in foreign languages for business.

Swallow completed her doctoral research in 2015 and was supervised by Howard Williams and Peter Gaunt with mentoring from Stewart Ainsworth on landscape archaeology; her thesis was titled Cheshire Castles in Context.

[2] Swallow began a career in business management before taking a master's degree in landscape, heritage and society and pursuing archaeology.

[4] Swallow collaborated with Robert Liddiard to write the English Heritage guidebook for Beeston Castle in Cheshire.

[14] Swallow joined the University of Liverpool in 2020 as a Data Technician and Temporary Research Assistant in the Department of Archaeology; in that role she contributes to 'The Human Remains: Digital Library' project.