Gerard:
Clare Doyle asked me to take a look at your query. Sorry, it has taken so long for a response.
I went on the Roots Ireland indexes and looked at the Freshford RC records for children of John Hughes and his wife Bridget. I did not find William but I located six baptismal records in the Freshford church as follows: Michael 1831, Sara 1833, James 1835, Robert 1836, Thomas 1839 and John 1840. I guess it is possible that Sara and Robert died young in Ireland. I also looked for Bridget to parents John and Judith with no success. I also did not find the marriage record for John and Bridget. I looked for a John and Judith marriage in the 1840s and only located one in 1840. Possibly, Bridget died in childbirth with John and John Sr. quickly remarried?? Roots would not let me figure out Judith's surname and I did not find out where the marriage was conducted. It was not in Freshford or in the RC parishes surrounding Freshford.
I also looked at the Tithe Applotment listings for John Hughes in Freshford civil parish. There were two John Hughes records in 1826 (see links below). Not sure if this is your ancestor. On both listings he is listed as record 150. On the first record it shows John Hughes or English. Not sure what this means unless he sometimes used English as a surname.
Let me know what questions you have.
Roger McDonnell
http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/reels/tab//004587443/00…
http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/reels/tab//004587443/00…