Clare Hartwell read archaeology and anthropology at Cambridge and subsequently completed an MA in vernacular architecture and architecture of the industrial age 1750-1915 at the University of Manchester.
Since that time she has acted as architectural adviser to the Victorian Society and the Georgian Group, as a list inspector for Cadw in Wales and as register inspector for English Heritage's Parks & Gardens of Special Historic Interest.
Her book on Manchester in the Pevsner Architectural Guides series was published in 2001.