diff --git a/synapse/handlers/federation_event.py b/synapse/handlers/federation_event.py
index df03eeba00..957bffc68c 100644
--- a/synapse/handlers/federation_event.py
+++ b/synapse/handlers/federation_event.py
@@ -905,9 +905,6 @@ class FederationEventHandler:
                 with nested_logging_context(ev.event_id):
                     await self._process_pulled_event(origin, ev, backfilled=backfilled)
 
-            if backfilled:
-                await self._assign_stitched_orderings(new_events)
-
         # Check if we've already tried to process these events at some point in the
         # past. We aren't concerned with the exponential backoff here, just whether it
         # has failed to be processed before.
@@ -2390,103 +2387,6 @@ class FederationEventHandler:
             )
             raise SynapseError(HTTPStatus.BAD_REQUEST, "Too many auth_events")
 
-    async def _assign_stitched_orderings(
-        self,
-        events: List[EventBase],
-    ) -> None:
-        """
-        Update persisted backfilled events with a stitched order
-        """
-        room_id = events[0].room_id
-
-        # Map from event id to assigned stitched ordering
-        stitched_orderings: Dict[str, int] = {}
-
-        # Take a copy of the events we have to process
-        remaining_batch = list(events)
-
-        # Find all events in the current batch which are in a timeline gap
-        gap_events = await self._store.db_pool.simple_select_many_batch(
-            "event_backward_extremities",
-            "event_id",
-            (ev.event_id for ev in events),
-            ["event_id", "before_gap_event_id"],
-        )
-
-        # TODO sort gap_events by DAG;received order
-        for gap_event, before_gap_event_id in gap_events:
-            logger.debug("Processing received gap event %s", gap_event)
-
-            matching_events = [gap_event]  # TODO find other events in the same gap
-
-            # Find all predecessors of those events in the batch
-            to_insert = find_predecessors(matching_events, remaining_batch)
-
-            logger.debug("Processing to_insert set %s", to_insert)
-
-            # Find the stitched order of the event before the gap
-            # TODO consider doing this with a join
-            previous_event_stitched_order = (
-                await self._store.db_pool.simple_select_one_onecol(
-                    "events",
-                    {"event_id": before_gap_event_id},
-                    "stitched_ordering",
-                    True,
-                )
-            )
-
-            logger.debug(
-                "Previous event stitched_ordering = %i", previous_event_stitched_order
-            )
-
-            # if previous_event_stitched_order is None, that means we have a room
-            # where there are existing events or gaps without assigned stitched orders.
-            # Let's give up trying to assign stitched orders here.
-            if previous_event_stitched_order is None:
-                # TODO do something better here
-                logger.warning(
-                    "Found gap event %s without assigned stitched order: bailing",
-                    gap_event,
-                )
-                return
-
-            still_remaining_batch = []
-            for event, context in remaining_batch:
-                if event.event_id not in to_insert:
-                    still_remaining_batch.append((event, context))
-                    continue
-
-                # TODO we may need to reorder existing events
-                previous_event_stitched_order += 1
-                stitched_orderings[event.event_id] = previous_event_stitched_order
-
-            remaining_batch = still_remaining_batch
-            logger.debug(
-                "Remaining events: %s", [ev.event_id for ev in remaining_batch]
-            )
-
-        logger.debug(
-            "Remaining events after processing gap matches: %s",
-            [ev.event_id for ev in remaining_batch],
-        )
-
-        current_max_stream_ordering = (
-            await self._store.get_room_max_stitched_ordering(room_id) or 0
-        )
-
-        for event in remaining_batch:
-            current_max_stream_ordering += 2**16
-            stitched_orderings[event.event_id] = current_max_stream_ordering
-
-        logger.info("Updating stitched orderings for received backfilled events: %s", stitched_orderings)
-
-        def update(txn: LoggingTransaction) -> None:
-            for event_id, ordering in stitched_orderings.items():
-                txn.execute("UPDATE events SET stitched_ordering = ? WHERE event_id = ?", [ordering, event_id])
-
-        await self._store.db_pool.runInteraction("update_stitched_orderings", update)
-
-
 def find_predecessors(
     event_ids: Iterable[str], batch: List[EventBase]
 ) -> Set[str]: