Poole's Customs, Superstitions and Legends of the County of Somerset describes Cannard's Grave as a well known place to the people of Shepton Mallet, a patch of dreary, run-down buildings. It was originally a lofty old inn with a wide arch and folding doors, which Poole thinks must have seen a good deal of gambling and smuggling.
The landlord was Giles Cannard, a thriving man whose money came, Poole says, from questionable dealings. His love of gold led him to forge a document. When the forgery was discovered, the prospect of ruin led him to kill himself. He was buried on the spot, and his soul did not rest but troubled the earth and visited the scenes of its former life.
Poole says the fact is mentioned by the Rev. H. Allen, rector of Shepton in 1692, in his account of the parish bounds. He also records two theories that the name has nothing to do with a man at all, deriving it from an Anglo-Saxon prince called Kinehard or from a herdsman's grove, and he favours the second.
The pin is a settlement-level estimate, since only the general area east of the town is described. The story is a literary retelling of a local tradition, and the earlier 1692 mention is reported secondhand by Poole, not seen directly.
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