diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 9a703a6e2..070be252f 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+	* removed deprecated handle_alert template
 	* enable logging build config by default (but alert mask disabled by default)
 	* deprecated RSS API
 	* experimental support for BEP 38, "mutable torrents"
diff --git a/include/libtorrent/alert.hpp b/include/libtorrent/alert.hpp
index b1ec7b1f8..f4fd26dae 100644
--- a/include/libtorrent/alert.hpp
+++ b/include/libtorrent/alert.hpp
@@ -267,70 +267,6 @@ namespace libtorrent {
 		time_point m_timestamp;
 	};
 
-	// TODO: 3 delete this functionality
-#ifndef BOOST_NO_EXCEPTIONS
-#ifndef TORRENT_NO_DEPRECATE
-	struct TORRENT_DEPRECATED TORRENT_EXPORT unhandled_alert : std::exception
-	{
-		unhandled_alert() {}
-	};
-
-#ifndef BOOST_NO_TYPEID
-
-	namespace detail {
-
-		struct void_;
-
-		template<class Handler
-			, BOOST_PP_ENUM_PARAMS(TORRENT_MAX_ALERT_TYPES, class T)>
-		TORRENT_DEPRECATED
-		void handle_alert_dispatch(
-			const std::auto_ptr<alert>& alert_, const Handler& handler
-			, const std::type_info& typeid_
-			, T0*, BOOST_PP_ENUM_SHIFTED_BINARY_PARAMS(TORRENT_MAX_ALERT_TYPES, T, *p))
-		{
-			if (typeid_ == typeid(T0))
-				handler(*static_cast<T0*>(alert_.get()));
-			else
-				handle_alert_dispatch(alert_, handler, typeid_
-					, BOOST_PP_ENUM_SHIFTED_PARAMS(
-					TORRENT_MAX_ALERT_TYPES, p), reinterpret_cast<void_*>(0));
-		}
-
-		template<class Handler>
-		TORRENT_DEPRECATED
-		void handle_alert_dispatch(
-			const std::auto_ptr<alert>&
-			, const Handler&
-			, const std::type_info&
-			, BOOST_PP_ENUM_PARAMS(TORRENT_MAX_ALERT_TYPES, void_* BOOST_PP_INTERCEPT))
-		{
-			throw unhandled_alert();
-		}
-
-	} // namespace detail
-
-	template<BOOST_PP_ENUM_PARAMS_WITH_A_DEFAULT(
-		TORRENT_MAX_ALERT_TYPES, class T, detail::void_)>
-	struct TORRENT_DEPRECATED TORRENT_EXPORT handle_alert
-	{
-		template<class Handler>
-		handle_alert(const std::auto_ptr<alert>& alert_
-			, const Handler& handler)
-		{
-			#define ALERT_POINTER_TYPE(z, n, text) reinterpret_cast<BOOST_PP_CAT(T, n)*>(0)
-
-			detail::handle_alert_dispatch(alert_, handler, typeid(*alert_)
-				, BOOST_PP_ENUM(TORRENT_MAX_ALERT_TYPES, ALERT_POINTER_TYPE, _));
-
-			#undef ALERT_POINTER_TYPE
-		}
-	};
-
-#endif // BOOST_NO_TYPEID
-#endif // TORRENT_NO_DEPRECATE
-#endif // BOOST_NO_EXCEPTIONS
-
 // When you get an alert, you can use ``alert_cast<>`` to attempt to cast the pointer to a
 // more specific alert type, in order to query it for more information.
 template <class T>