diff --git a/c/CHANGELOG.rst b/c/CHANGELOG.rst
index 4a5ea3785f..f556e01378 100644
--- a/c/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/c/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -40,6 +40,9 @@
 - Add ``edge`` attribute to ``mutation_t`` struct make available in tree sequence.
   (:user:`jeromekelleher`, :issue:`685`, :pr:`2279`)
 
+- Reduce peak memory usage in ``tsk_treeseq_simplify``.
+  (:user:`jeromekelleher`, :issue:`2287`, :pr:`2288`)
+
 ----------------------
 [0.99.15] - 2021-12-07
 ----------------------
diff --git a/c/tskit/trees.c b/c/tskit/trees.c
index eff547d3b8..e5e230ccec 100644
--- a/c/tskit/trees.c
+++ b/c/tskit/trees.c
@@ -3227,20 +3227,29 @@ tsk_treeseq_simplify(const tsk_treeseq_t *self, const tsk_id_t *samples,
     tsk_id_t *node_map)
 {
     int ret = 0;
-    tsk_table_collection_t tables;
+    tsk_table_collection_t *tables = tsk_malloc(sizeof(*tables));
 
-    ret = tsk_treeseq_copy_tables(self, &tables, 0);
+    if (tables == NULL) {
+        ret = TSK_ERR_NO_MEMORY;
+        goto out;
+    }
+    ret = tsk_treeseq_copy_tables(self, tables, 0);
     if (ret != 0) {
         goto out;
     }
-    ret = tsk_table_collection_simplify(
-        &tables, samples, num_samples, options, node_map);
+    ret = tsk_table_collection_simplify(tables, samples, num_samples, options, node_map);
     if (ret != 0) {
         goto out;
     }
-    ret = tsk_treeseq_init(output, &tables, TSK_TS_INIT_BUILD_INDEXES);
+    ret = tsk_treeseq_init(
+        output, tables, TSK_TS_INIT_BUILD_INDEXES | TSK_TAKE_OWNERSHIP);
+    /* Once tsk_tree_init has returned ownership of tables is transferred */
+    tables = NULL;
 out:
-    tsk_table_collection_free(&tables);
+    if (tables != NULL) {
+        tsk_table_collection_free(tables);
+        tsk_safe_free(tables);
+    }
     return ret;
 }