diff --git a/src/persistent/cPersistence.c b/src/persistent/cPersistence.c
index 07ab9ad..adb2dd6 100644
--- a/src/persistent/cPersistence.c
+++ b/src/persistent/cPersistence.c
@@ -28,9 +28,6 @@ struct ccobject_head_struct
 #include <stdint.h>
 #include <inttypes.h>
 
-/* These objects are initialized when the module is loaded */
-static PyObject *py_simple_new;
-
 /* Strings initialized by init_strings() below. */
 static PyObject *py_keys, *py_setstate, *py___dict__, *py_timeTime;
 static PyObject *py__p_changed, *py__p_deactivate;
@@ -1624,23 +1621,8 @@ Per_setstate(cPersistentObject *self)
     return 0;
 }
 
-static PyObject *
-simple_new(PyObject *self, PyObject *type_object)
-{
-    if (!PyType_Check(type_object))
-    {
-        PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError,
-                        "simple_new argument must be a type object.");
-        return NULL;
-    }
-    return PyType_GenericNew((PyTypeObject *)type_object, NULL, NULL);
-}
-
 static PyMethodDef cPersistence_methods[] =
 {
-    {"simple_new", simple_new, METH_O,
-     "Create an object by simply calling a class's __new__ method without "
-     "arguments."},
     {NULL, NULL}
 };
 
@@ -1713,10 +1695,6 @@ module_init(void)
                                 cPersistent_STICKY_STATE) < 0)
         return NULL;
 
-    py_simple_new = PyObject_GetAttrString(module, "simple_new");
-    if (!py_simple_new)
-        return NULL;
-
     copy_reg = PyImport_ImportModule("copyreg");
     if (!copy_reg)
         return NULL;
diff --git a/src/persistent/tests/test_persistence.py b/src/persistent/tests/test_persistence.py
index c9f844a..6200c44 100644
--- a/src/persistent/tests/test_persistence.py
+++ b/src/persistent/tests/test_persistence.py
@@ -2204,22 +2204,5 @@ def _makeCache(self, jar):
         return PickleCache(jar)
 
 
-@skipIfNoCExtension
-class Test_simple_new(unittest.TestCase):
-
-    def _callFUT(self, x):
-        from persistent._compat import _c_optimizations_available as get_c
-        simple_new = get_c()['persistent.persistence'].simple_new
-        return simple_new(x)
-
-    def test_w_non_type(self):
-        self.assertRaises(TypeError, self._callFUT, '')
-
-    def test_w_type(self):
-        TO_CREATE = [type, list, tuple, object, dict]
-        for typ in TO_CREATE:
-            self.assertIsInstance(self._callFUT(typ), typ)
-
-
 def test_suite():
     return unittest.defaultTestLoader.loadTestsFromName(__name__)