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An interesting picture of Llanfairfechan at this time is given in an account of the festivities in the village on the occasion of the marriage in January, 1868, of John Platt's eldest son, Henry. He was a young man of twenty-six and a captain in the Caernarvonshire militia. His bride was the daughter of Colonel Richard Sykes, a Cheshire gentleman. That January day in 1868 was one of great excitement in Llanfairfechan, especially for the children. Flags were hoisted out from all the principal houses and from 10 o'clock in the morning rock-cannons were fired in rapid succession and the firing continued at intervals throughout the day. All the village made the occasion a holiday. The children of the parish, over 500 of them, assembled at the school at 10 o'clock and formed a procession marshalled by the curate and the schoolmaster. This procession made its way in great spirits along the turnpike road as far as Madryn, a farm belonging to Mr. John Platt mid-way between Llanfairfechan and Aber. There, it was joined by the brass band of the Bethesda Volunteers, fifteen in number, who had just arrived, having, says the North Wales Chronicle, called at Aber at the Bulkeley Arms Hotel and refreshed themselves with bread and cheese and a glass each of Mr. Edwards's prime cwrw da. At Madryn, a fine ox was placed on a wagon, very tastefully decorated, says the account, by Mr. Eastwood, the head gardener at Bryn-y-Neuadd. The wagon, with the ox, was drawn by six superb grey horses, bedizened with ribbons of all kinds of colours; and on the wagon were four butchers. The Band of the Bethesda Volunteers, playing popular airs, then led the procession as far as Aber, leaving the school children at Madryn. There, at Aber, they were met by the entire village and there was great cheering and drinking of beer, no doubt especially by the Bethesda Volunteers. The procession then returned to Madryn, being rejoined by the schoolchildren. It was now a quarter of a mile long. From Madryn it made its way through the Grand Lodge and along the main drive to Bryn-y-Neuadd Hall;
Ale was served to the Bethesda Volunteers' band, which by this time were probably a little unsteady, and the housekeeper distributed buns and cakes to the children. The procession then toured the village to the accompaniment of much band playing and cheering. At 3 o'clock the children were treated to a tea at the school, whilst the organizers of the festivities regaled themselves at the Castle Hotel and other similar places. “The most pleasant and important part of the day's proceedings", says the account, “was the distribution of the beef to the poor of the two parishes of Llanfairfechan and Aber. The ox was soon cut up into good large pieces and a portion of beef was given to everyone who presented a ticket about 120 in all ". At night, two monster bonfires were lit on the mountains. The only thing that went wrong that glorious day, it appears, was a balloon, which failed to ascend to any very great height. The North Wales Chronicle ended its account of the day's festivities with these words: “We are glad to state that good order was maintained throughout the day and that the police officers did their duty well firmly, but kindly ". Doubtless the Bethesda Volunteers that night had required some firm handling before they could be persuaded to make their way home.
John Platt had bought not only the estate of Bryn-y-Neuadd but also the old mansion and estate of Gorddinog just across the parish boundary in Aber. Gorddinog had once been the home of an old Welsh county family which had died out. Its last occupant was Mrs. Crawley, who had married Mr. Vincent, former rector of Llanfairfechan and subsequently dean of Bangor.
In 1868 John Platt decided to pull down the old house and build, close behind its site, a new mansion for his eldest son. The new Gorddinog, a mansion, as one writer described it at the time, “of Elizabethan architecture ", was completed in 1869, and Captain Platt and his young wife made their home in it for the rest of their lives. They were clearly much attached to the house and were to make substantial additions to the original building.
Bryn-y-Neuadd had obviously been intended by John Platt as his principal seat and one might have expected that, after his father's death, Henry Platt, the eldest son, would have succeeded to it, Gorddinog becoming a kind of dower house. But Henry Platt remained at Gorddinog. None of the other sons wanted Bryn-y-Neuadd Samuel, the second son, lived at Oldham, the third son at Barnby Manor, Nottinghamshire. Bryn-y-Neuadd was eventually given to the youngest son, Sydney, who, when his father died, was only a boy of eleven.
Colonel Henry Platt (in 1884 he had become Lieutenant-Colonel of the 4th Battalion of the Royal Welch Fusiliers) lived at Gorddinog, taking an active part in the public and social life of the neighbourhood and of the county. He had been a county magistrate since he was 25. In 1877 he was High Sheriff and in 1883 he became the first mayor of Bangor. His chief interest was agriculture and he was a liberal supporter of the School of Agriculture at the University College of North Wales in its early days.
Colonel Henry Platt died in 1916 and was succeeded at Gorddinog by his second son, Major Eric James Walter Platt. Colonel Platt had had the misfortune of losing his eldest son, John Heylyn Platt, who, a young man of 24, was accidentally drowned whilst bathing in Cashmere, India. Major Eric Platt, a justice of the peace and Deputy Lieutenant of this county, served in the First World War and during the Second World War acted as Vice-Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire during the absence from the County of the Lord Lieutenant, Brigadier W. H. Wynne Finch, on active service. He died in 1946, aged 75. Following the death of his widow, Mrs. Florence Platt, in 1955, the Gorddinog Estate was sold in April, 1956. Their daughter, Mrs. Eneid Langdon, then readily accepted the invitation of the Gustos Rotulorum to place on deposit with the County Archives the records and family papers preserved at Gorddinog and it is entirely due to Mrs. Langdon's signal generosity that it has been possible to prepare this paper and to reconstruct and tell a story. The obelisk on the far right is a monument to a horse owned by Major Eric James Walter Platt
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