As a result of the decline in demand for coopering, coopers and their families started to emigrate to England in 1889. Some went to find work in England and Scotland. Others found work elsewhere in Ireland, at least temporarily. In 1886 the Cork Coopers were not pleased when they heard that Ballincollig coopers had found work in Limerick. When the Powder Mills finally closed in June 1903, coopers still appealed to the coopers society to allow them to find work in Cork City, but the society refused.