diff --git a/demos/search/demo.search.app.js b/demos/search/demo.search.app.js
index 72b5937a..49f5f9b9 100644
--- a/demos/search/demo.search.app.js
+++ b/demos/search/demo.search.app.js
@@ -207,32 +207,6 @@ var templates = {
       data: data
     });
   },
-  'http://openspending.org/api/search': function(record) {
-    record['time'] = record['time.label_facet']
-    var template = '<div class="record"> \
-      <h3> \
-        <a href="http://openspending.org/{{record.dataset}}/entries/{{record.id}}">{{record.dataset}} {{record.time}}</a> \
-        &ndash; <img src="http://openspending.org/static/img/icons/cd_16x16.png" /> {{amount_formatted}} \
-      </h3> \
-      <ul> \
-       {{#data}} \
-         <li>{{key}}: {{value}}</li> \
-       {{/data}} \
-       </ul> \
-    </div> \
-    ';
-    var data = [];
-    _.each(_.keys(record), function(key) {
-      if (key !='_id' && key != 'id') {
-        data.push({ key: key, value: record[key] });
-      }
-    });
-    return Mustache.render(template, {
-      record: record,
-      amount_formatted: formatAmount(record['amount']),
-      data: data
-    });
-  },
   'https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aon3JiuouxLUdExXSTl2Y01xZEszOTBFZjVzcGtzVVE': function(record) {
     var template = '<div class="record"> \
       <h3> \
diff --git a/demos/search/index.html b/demos/search/index.html
index e19ada5b..28d3bb6a 100644
--- a/demos/search/index.html
+++ b/demos/search/index.html
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ ul.facet-items {
 
 <div class="info">
   <p>This demo shows how Recline can be used to build a search app. It includes faceting as well as search. You can find the <a href="demo.search.app.js">source javascript here</a> (plus <a href="{{page.root}}/docs/src/demo.search.app.html">prettified version of source for readability</a>) &ndash; please feel free to reuse!</p>
-  <p>The default setup uses local example data but you can also connect directly to any other <a href="{{page.root}}/docs/backends.html">backend supported by Recline</a>, for example SOLR, ElasticSearch or even a google docs spreadsheet. As an example: here's an <a href="?backend=solr&amp;url=http://openspending.org/api/search">example running against the SOLR-style OpenSpending API</a> and here's an example <a href="?backend=gdocs&amp;url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aon3JiuouxLUdExXSTl2Y01xZEszOTBFZjVzcGtzVVE">running against a GDocs spreadsheet (Oil spills in the Niger Delta)</a>.</p>
+  <p>The default setup uses local example data but you can also connect directly to any other <a href="{{page.root}}/docs/backends.html">backend supported by Recline</a>, for example SOLR, ElasticSearch or even a google docs spreadsheet. Here's an example <a href="?backend=gdocs&amp;url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aon3JiuouxLUdExXSTl2Y01xZEszOTBFZjVzcGtzVVE">running against a GDocs spreadsheet (Oil spills in the Niger Delta)</a>.</p>
 </div>
 
 <hr />
diff --git a/src/backend.solr.js b/src/backend.solr.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 36e465f0..00000000
--- a/src/backend.solr.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,68 +0,0 @@
-this.recline = this.recline || {};
-this.recline.Backend = this.recline.Backend || {};
-this.recline.Backend.Solr = this.recline.Backend.Solr || {};
-
-(function($, my) {
-  my.__type__ = 'solr';
-
-  // use either jQuery or Underscore Deferred depending on what is available
-  var Deferred = _.isUndefined(this.jQuery) ? _.Deferred : jQuery.Deferred;
-
-  // ### fetch
-  //
-  // dataset must have a solr or url attribute pointing to solr endpoint
-  my.fetch = function(dataset) {
-    var jqxhr = $.ajax({
-      url: dataset.solr || dataset.url,
-      data: {
-        rows: 1,
-        wt: 'json'
-      },
-      dataType: 'jsonp',
-      jsonp: 'json.wrf'
-    });
-    var dfd = new Deferred();
-    jqxhr.done(function(results) {
-      // if we get 0 results we cannot get fields
-      var fields = []
-      if (results.response.numFound > 0) {
-        fields =  _.map(_.keys(results.response.docs[0]), function(fieldName) {
-          return { id: fieldName };
-        });
-      }
-      var out = {
-        fields: fields,
-        useMemoryStore: false
-      };
-      dfd.resolve(out);
-    });
-    return dfd.promise();
-  }
-
-  // TODO - much work on proper query support is needed!!
-  my.query = function(queryObj, dataset) {
-    var q = queryObj.q || '*:*';
-    var data = {
-      q: q,
-      rows: queryObj.size,
-      start: queryObj.from,
-      wt: 'json'
-    };
-    var jqxhr = $.ajax({
-      url: dataset.solr || dataset.url,
-      data: data,
-      dataType: 'jsonp',
-      jsonp: 'json.wrf'
-    });
-    var dfd = new Deferred();
-    jqxhr.done(function(results) {
-      var out = {
-        total: results.response.numFound,
-        hits: results.response.docs
-      };
-      dfd.resolve(out);  
-    });
-    return dfd.promise();
-  };
-
-}(jQuery, this.recline.Backend.Solr));
diff --git a/test/backend.solr.test.js b/test/backend.solr.test.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 2b7ec65a..00000000
--- a/test/backend.solr.test.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,85 +0,0 @@
-(function ($) {
-module("Backend SOLR");
-
-test("fetch", function() { 
-  var dataset = new recline.Model.Dataset({
-    url: 'http://openspending.org/api/search',
-    backend: 'solr'
-  });
-  // stop();
-
-  var stub = sinon.stub($, 'ajax', function(options) {
-    return {
-      done: function(callback) {
-        callback(sample_data);
-        return this;
-      },
-      fail: function() {
-      }
-    };
-  });
-
-  dataset.fetch().done(function(dataset) {
-    var exp = [
-      "_id",
-      "amount",
-      "category.label_facet",
-      "dataset",
-      "from.label_facet",
-      "id",
-      "subcategory.label_facet",
-      "time.label_facet",
-      "to.label_facet"
-    ];
-    deepEqual(
-      exp,
-      _.pluck(dataset.fields.toJSON(), 'id')
-    );
-    // check we've mapped types correctly
-    equal(dataset.fields.get('amount').get('type'), 'string');
-
-    // fetch does a query so we can check for records
-    equal(dataset.recordCount, 10342132);
-    equal(dataset.records.length, 2);
-    equal(dataset.records.at(0).get('id'), '3e3e25d7737634127b76d5ee4a7df280987013c7');
-    // start();
-  });
-  $.ajax.restore();
-});
-
-var sample_data = {
-  "response": {
-    "docs": [
-      {
-        "_id": "south-african-national-gov-budget-2012-13::3e3e25d7737634127b76d5ee4a7df280987013c7", 
-        "amount": 30905738200000.0, 
-        "category.label_facet": "General public services", 
-        "dataset": "south-african-national-gov-budget-2012-13", 
-        "from.label_facet": "National Treasury", 
-        "id": "3e3e25d7737634127b76d5ee4a7df280987013c7", 
-        "subcategory.label_facet": "Transfers of a general character between different levels of government", 
-        "time.label_facet": "01. April 2012", 
-        "to.label_facet": "Provincial Equitable Share"
-      }, 
-      {
-        "_id": "south-african-national-gov-budget-2012-13::738849e28e6b3c45e5b0001e142b51479b3a3e41", 
-        "amount": 8938807300000.0, 
-        "category.label_facet": "General public services", 
-        "dataset": "south-african-national-gov-budget-2012-13", 
-        "from.label_facet": "National Treasury", 
-        "id": "738849e28e6b3c45e5b0001e142b51479b3a3e41", 
-        "subcategory.label_facet": "Public debt transactions", 
-        "time.label_facet": "01. April 2012", 
-        "to.label_facet": "State Debt Costs"
-      }
-    ], 
-    "numFound": 10342132, 
-    "start": 0
-  }, 
-  "responseHeader": {
-    "QTime": 578, 
-    "status": 0
-  }
-};
-
-})(this.jQuery);
diff --git a/test/index.html b/test/index.html
index 0bf98a62..cfa1151e 100644
--- a/test/index.html
+++ b/test/index.html
@@ -38,7 +38,6 @@
   <script type="text/javascript" src="../src/backend.elasticsearch.js"></script>
   <script type="text/javascript" src="../src/backend.csv.js"></script>
   <script type="text/javascript" src="../src/backend.ckan.js"></script>
-  <script type="text/javascript" src="../src/backend.solr.js"></script>
 
   <script type="text/javascript" src="model.test.js"></script>
   <script type="text/javascript" src="backend.memory.test.js"></script>
@@ -47,7 +46,6 @@
   <script type="text/javascript" src="backend.elasticsearch.test.js"></script>
   <script type="text/javascript" src="backend.csv.test.js"></script>
   <script type="text/javascript" src="backend.ckan.test.js"></script>
-  <script type="text/javascript" src="backend.solr.test.js"></script>
 
   <!-- views and view tests -->
   <script type="text/javascript" src="../src/view.grid.js"></script>