Edward Barnwell was the third son of Charles Frederick Barnwell, a former Fellow of Cauis College, Cambridge. His father was descended from the Barnwells of Mileham, Norfolk. His mother was the daughter of Review
John Lowry, Rector of Clogheny in County Tyrone and had connections with the Irish aristocracy and the Perrot family of Herefordshire.
He was educated at Bath Grammar School and then in a school at Greenwich which had been established by Doctor Charles Burney.
He went up to Balliol College Oxford and gained a first class degree in Mathematics. In 1836 he was awarded a Scholarship at Jesus College, Oxford and was ordained by the Bishop of Oxford, before becoming a curate at Malvern. He was appointed headmaster of Dean Goodman’s Ruthin School in 1839.
In 1846 Barnwell married Matilda, daughter of the Rev C J Chapman, of Street Peter Mancroft Norwich.
Barnwell was headmaster of Ruthin School for 26 years and retired in 1865. In 1866 he purchased Melksham House in Melksham, Wiltshire.
There, he financed a new church, Street Andrew’s, Forest and contributed towards the cost of a new rectory and parish school. He served as the joint general secretary from 1855 to 1875, and as Treasurer from 1875 t0 1884.
In that year he was made a Vice President of the Society in recognition of his long service.
Between 1855 and 1884 he contributed 102 articles and notes on a wide range of subjects to Archaeologia Cambrensis. His main interests were Archaeology, Vernacular Architecture, Medieval History and Genealogy. He had a particular interest in Prehistory and can be seen as a founding figure in the study of Welsh Prehistory.
His last article in Archaeologia Cambrensis “On Some South Wales Cromlechs” disputed some of the assertions in Ferguson’s recently published “Rude Stone Monuments of all Countries” and provides an overview of Chambered Tombs in Wales.
He collected artefacts and he was an expert on Bronze Age metalwork, publishing a number of hoards including that from Guilsfield in Montgomeryshire. He also published general survey of the early finds Montgomeryshire which was included in the Proceedings of the Powysland Club.
His survey of the late Iron Age site at Tre’r Ceiri, near Nefyn in Caernarfonshire, provides useful information about the state of the site at that time. Published in Archaeologia Cambrensis
1855 Remarks on an Iron Celt found on the Berwyn Mountains, Merionethshire volume 1 pg 150.
1856 Records of the Lordship of Dyffryn Clwyd and Ruthin Castle
1859 Roman Roads in Denbighshire
1864 Bronze Implements
1867 Domestic Architecture of South Wales, vol13, pps193, 163.
1869 Cromlechs in North Wales Vol15, 118-
1871 Tre’r Ceiri 5th Ser Volume(s) 1, 66
1872 Some details of the Broadwood Find
1874 French Megalithic Remains
1875 The Rhosnesney Bronze Implements
1875 The Pembrokeshire Cliff Castles
1875 The Caergwrle Cup
1877 Pembrokeshire Houses
1884 On some South Wales Cromlechs.
Barnwell was a founding member of the at the Aberystwyth meeting in 1847.
