Bardwell is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Carlisle County, Kentucky, United States. The city was formally incorporated by the state assembly in 1878. The population was 714 at the 2020 census, down from 723 in 2010. Bardwell is included in the Paducah, KY-IL Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Carlisle County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,826, making it the fourth-least populous county in Kentucky. Its county seat is Bardwell. The county was founded in 1886 and named for John Griffin Carlisle, a Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky. It remains a prohibition or dry county. Carlisle County is included in the Paducah, KY-IL, Metropolitan Statistical Area.