Ballynahinch was once the home of Richard "Hair Trigger" Martin who owned the largest landed estate in Ireland- a whopping 100,000 acres known as Ballynahinch Estate. As a Minister of Parliament for Galway in Westminster , London , he campaigned strongly for animal rights legislation, culminating in the Martin’s Act, the basis for all animal rights legislation today. It is said he imprisoned people he found mistreating animals on his estate in a small island castle on a lake in the estate.