Formed in 1978 from a youth club team and originally called ‘Vikings’ the team entered the Gloucester Sunday League Division 6. After an initial couple of seasons adjusting to league football, the club embarked on a spree of Divisional Championships and runner-up places. This was crowned in 1987 with promotion to the Sunday League Premier Division.

During this phenomenal period, the club in 1983 applied to join the Saturday Stroud and District Football League and were entered into Division 4, which they subsequently won. Divisional championships and promotion in subsequent seasons culminated with Barnwoods promotion to Division 1. The 1985/86 season saw Barnwood United amass an impressive 5 trophies, through Saturday and Sunday football. The driving force behind this success was player manager Bruce Cherette, supported by an outstanding squad of players, most notably the strike partnership of John Newman and Steve Brown (now reserve team manager) who during the season amassed over 100 goals between them. 1985/86 also saw the formation of a reserve side that entered the Stroud and District Football League.

The 1987/88 season the first team won the GFA Junior County Cup beating their old rivals Blakeney 3-1 at Harrow Hill. The 1988/89 season saw one of the clubs most proud moments to date, the SDFL Division 1 championship and promotion to Division 2 of the Gloucester Northern Senior League, this also promoted the change of club name to as it is now.

The 1991/92 season saw an ever developing first team managed by Colin Palmer, find its feet and win promotion to Division 1 of the Northern Senior League. The success of promotion was added to with the defeat of Shortwood United, 3-0 at The Lawn, to win the ‘Forest Green supporters trophy’. Barnwood also narrowly missed out on another cup when unlucky defeated by Cheltenham Saracens 4-3 after extra time, in the GFA Senior Amateur Cup final. The success the club enjoyed was not limited to the first team, the reserves also prospered, winning the Stroud and District League Division 6,5 and 4 titles in the seasons 1987/88, 1992/93 and 1994/95 respectively.

During the middle to late 90’s the club found itself facing its first dilemma, aging playing squad, player retirement and lake of youth talent. With these factors continuing to plague the club, and a lack of players as a whole, the unfortunate decision was taken to withdraw its first team from the Northern Senior League in 1999/2000. This decision also coincided with the reserve teams’ relegation to Stroud and District League division 3.

The following season saw the influx of several new, young, talented players. Under the guidance of two of the clubs longest serving members, Phil Powell and Herbie Ellis these players flourished, gaining instant promotion back to SDFL Division 2.

After two seasons narrowly missing out on promotion and losing a hard fought battle 4-3 in the final of the GFA Junior Cup Final to Berkley Town, the future looks promising for this young Barnwood United team. The tremendous start to the 2003/04 has put them in serious contention for the SDFL Division 2 tile and with the entry of a new reserve side, into SDFL Division 8, Barnwood continue their re-development as they endeavour to re-establish themselves as a dominant force in local football.