diff --git a/M2/Macaulay2/d/actors5.d b/M2/Macaulay2/d/actors5.d
index 7a2e89bfa02..ef6bf17d035 100644
--- a/M2/Macaulay2/d/actors5.d
+++ b/M2/Macaulay2/d/actors5.d
@@ -1814,9 +1814,6 @@ export StandardE := Expr(StandardS);
 export topLevelMode := Expr(StandardS);
 topLevelModeS := dummySymbol;
 
-threadLocal lastError := nullE;
-lastErrorS := dummySymbol;
-
 initialRandomSeed := zeroZZ;
 initialRandomHeight := toInteger(10);
 
@@ -1851,8 +1848,7 @@ syms := SymbolSequence(
      (  handleInterruptsS = setupvar("handleInterrupts",toExpr(handleInterrupts));  handleInterruptsS  ),
      (  printWidthS = setupvar("printWidth",toExpr(printWidth));  printWidthS  ),
      (  notifyS = setupvar("notify",toExpr(notify));  notifyS  ),
-     (  topLevelModeS = setupvar("topLevelMode",topLevelMode); topLevelModeS  ),
-     (  lastErrorS = setupvarThread("lastError", lastError); lastErrorS )
+     (  topLevelModeS = setupvar("topLevelMode",topLevelMode); topLevelModeS  )
      );
 
 export setDebuggingMode(b:bool):void := (
@@ -1891,17 +1887,6 @@ export sethandleInterrupts(b:bool):void := (
      handleInterruptsSetup(b);
      setGlobalVariable(handleInterruptsS,toExpr(b));
      );
-setLastError(position:Position, message:string):void := (
-    if !(
-	message == returnMessage   ||
-	message == continueMessage || message == continueMessageWithArg ||
-	message == stepMessage     || message == stepMessageWithArg     ||
-	message == breakMessage)
-    then (
-	lastError = seq(locate(position), toExpr(message));
-	setGlobalVariable(lastErrorS, lastError)));
-setLastErrorpointer = setLastError;
-
 threadLocal resetvars := (
      -- These are the thread local variables that got re-initialized in tokens.d:
      -- Actually, this is no good!  If the user assigns to one of these variables, the "top level" version
@@ -1925,21 +1910,6 @@ store(e:Expr):Expr := (			    -- called with (symbol,newvalue)
 	  else when s.1
 	  is Nothing do (
 	       if sym === debuggerHookS then (debuggerHook = s.1; e)
-	       else if sym === lastErrorS then (lastError = s.1; e)
-	       else buildErrorPacket(msg))
-	  is a:Sequence do (
-	       if sym === lastErrorS then (
-		   if length(a) == 2 then (
-		       when a.0
-		       is p:List
-		       do (
-			   if p.Class == filePositionClass then (
-			       when a.1
-			       is msg:stringCell do (lastError = s.1; e)
-			       else WrongArgString(2))
-			   else WrongArg(1, "a file position"))
-		       else WrongArg(1, "a file position"))
-		   else WrongNumArgs(2))
 	       else buildErrorPacket(msg))
 	  is b:Boolean do (
 	       n := b.v;
diff --git a/M2/Macaulay2/d/binding.d b/M2/Macaulay2/d/binding.d
index 08c4561c909..597e86cbc5e 100644
--- a/M2/Macaulay2/d/binding.d
+++ b/M2/Macaulay2/d/binding.d
@@ -415,12 +415,10 @@ export makeSymbol(t:Token):Symbol := (
 export makeErrorTree(e:ParseTree,message:string):void := (
      HadError = true;
      printErrorMessage(treePosition(e),message);
-     setLastErrorpointer(treePosition(e), message);
      );
 export makeErrorTree(e:Token,message:string):void := (
      HadError = true;
      printErrorMessage(e,message);
-     setLastErrorpointer(e.position, message);
      );
 makeSymbol(e:ParseTree,dictionary:Dictionary):void := (
      when e
diff --git a/M2/Macaulay2/d/evaluate.d b/M2/Macaulay2/d/evaluate.d
index dd607ba0456..2982715dcd5 100644
--- a/M2/Macaulay2/d/evaluate.d
+++ b/M2/Macaulay2/d/evaluate.d
@@ -1585,14 +1585,7 @@ export evalraw(c:Code):Expr := (
 	       	    tmp)
 	       else AngleBarList(r)
 	       ));
-     when e is Error
-     do (
-	 f := handleError(c,e);
-	 when f is err:Error
-	 do setLastErrorpointer(err.position, err.message)
-	 else nothing;
-	 f)
-     else e);
+     when e is Error do handleError(c,e) else e);
 
 export evalexcept(c:Code):Expr := (
      -- printErrorMessage(codePosition(c),"--evaluating: "+present(tostring(c)));
diff --git a/M2/Macaulay2/d/lex.d b/M2/Macaulay2/d/lex.d
index 28f7215a283..8b9a4ab05f6 100644
--- a/M2/Macaulay2/d/lex.d
+++ b/M2/Macaulay2/d/lex.d
@@ -82,14 +82,8 @@ export install(name:string,word:Word):Word := (
      foreach ch in name do node = install(node,int(ch));     
      node.word = word;
      word);
-
--- setLastError defined in actors5.d
-dummysetLastError(position:Position, message:string):void := nothing;
-export setLastErrorpointer := dummysetLastError;
-
 makeLexError(position:Position, message:string):void := (
     printErrorMessage(position, message);
-    setLastErrorpointer(position, message);
     empty(tokenbuf));
 
 newPosition(file:PosFile, line:ushort, column:ushort):Position := Position(
diff --git a/M2/Macaulay2/d/parser.d b/M2/Macaulay2/d/parser.d
index 39b5600f8f7..b05316448e2 100644
--- a/M2/Macaulay2/d/parser.d
+++ b/M2/Macaulay2/d/parser.d
@@ -184,7 +184,6 @@ accumulate(e:ParseTree,file:TokenFile,prec:int,obeylines:bool):ParseTree := (
      );
 makeParseError(token:Token, message:string):ParseTree := (
      printErrorMessage(token, message);
-     setLastErrorpointer(token.position, message);
      errorTree);
 export errorunary(token1:Token,file:TokenFile,prec:int,obeylines:bool):ParseTree := (
      makeParseError(token1,"syntax error at '" + token1.word.name + "'"));
diff --git a/M2/Macaulay2/m2/exports.m2 b/M2/Macaulay2/m2/exports.m2
index d693ddb5cb0..8cf832a6b12 100644
--- a/M2/Macaulay2/m2/exports.m2
+++ b/M2/Macaulay2/m2/exports.m2
@@ -1338,7 +1338,6 @@ exportMutable {
 	"handleInterrupts",
 	"homeDirectory",
 	"interpreterDepth",
-	"lastError",
 	"lastMatch",
 	"lineNumber",
 	"loadDepth",
diff --git a/M2/Macaulay2/packages/Macaulay2Doc/ov_debugging.m2 b/M2/Macaulay2/packages/Macaulay2Doc/ov_debugging.m2
index c03cef6ddd0..36fd7ea4fdf 100644
--- a/M2/Macaulay2/packages/Macaulay2Doc/ov_debugging.m2
+++ b/M2/Macaulay2/packages/Macaulay2Doc/ov_debugging.m2
@@ -327,32 +327,6 @@ document {
 	  }
      }
 
-doc ///
-  Key
-    symbol lastError
-  Headline
-    information about the last error
-  Usage
-    lastError
-  Outputs
-    :Sequence
-      of two elements, the @TO FilePosition@ of the code that generated
-      the last error and a string containing the error message
-  Description
-    Example
-      try 1/0
-      lastError
-    Text
-      The last error is local to each thread.
-    Example
-      taskResult schedule(() -> try error "foo" else lastError)
-      lastError
-    Text
-      Clear the value by assigning null.
-    Example
-      lastError = null
-///
-
 
 document {
      Key => "recursionLimit",
diff --git a/M2/Macaulay2/packages/Macaulay2Doc/ov_language.m2 b/M2/Macaulay2/packages/Macaulay2Doc/ov_language.m2
index 5afc324da55..fe5b6153dcb 100644
--- a/M2/Macaulay2/packages/Macaulay2Doc/ov_language.m2
+++ b/M2/Macaulay2/packages/Macaulay2Doc/ov_language.m2
@@ -704,7 +704,6 @@ document {
 	  TO "error",
 	  TO "try",
 	  TO "throw",
-	  TO "Macaulay2Doc::lastError" -- TODO: why do we need to specify pkg?
 	  }
      }
 
diff --git a/M2/Macaulay2/tests/normal/error-messages.m2 b/M2/Macaulay2/tests/normal/error-messages.m2
index 30b62f2c586..2d175e23720 100644
--- a/M2/Macaulay2/tests/normal/error-messages.m2
+++ b/M2/Macaulay2/tests/normal/error-messages.m2
@@ -1,7 +1,3 @@
-assert(try 1/0 else lastError#1 == "division by zero")
-lastError = null
-assert(lastError === null)
-
 stderr << "--testing the error messages must be done manually" << endl
 end