diff --git a/state/accumulator.go b/state/accumulator.go
index acab4555..f1bec0fd 100644
--- a/state/accumulator.go
+++ b/state/accumulator.go
@@ -347,54 +347,77 @@ func (a *Accumulator) Accumulate(txn *sqlx.Tx, roomID string, prevBatch string,
 	// We can track this by loading the current snapshot ID (after snapshot) then rolling forward
 	// the timeline until we hit a state event, at which point we make a new snapshot but critically
 	// do NOT assign the new state event in the snapshot so as to represent the state before the event.
-	snapID, err := a.roomsTable.CurrentAfterSnapshotID(txn, roomID)
+	currentSnapID, err := a.roomsTable.CurrentAfterSnapshotID(txn, roomID)
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, nil, err
+	}
+	currentState, err := a.fetchInitialSnapshot(txn, currentSnapID)
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, nil, err
+	}
+
+	// newEvents can occasionally be large. In this situation it is worth batching the
+	// updates and insert statements to avoid the RTT overhead of multiple queries
+	// stacking up. So: work out what we want to do first.
+	numState := countStateEvents(newEvents)
+	eventsTableUpdates := make([]beforeSnapshotUpdate, 0, len(newEvents))
+	snapshotInserts := make([]SnapshotRow, 0, numState)
+	// We'll need to assign snapshot IDs ourselves, so ask the database to give us some.
+	snapshotIDs, err := a.snapshotTable.ReserveSnapshotIDs(txn, numState)
 	if err != nil {
 		return 0, nil, err
 	}
 	for _, ev := range newEvents {
-		var replacesNID int64
 		// the snapshot ID we assign to this event is unaffected by whether /this/ event is state or not,
 		// as this is the before snapshot ID.
-		beforeSnapID := snapID
-
+		beforeSnapID := currentSnapID
+		var replacesNID int64
 		if ev.IsState {
-			// make a new snapshot and update the snapshot ID
-			var oldStripped StrippedEvents
-			if snapID != 0 {
-				oldStripped, err = a.strippedEventsForSnapshot(txn, snapID)
-				if err != nil {
-					return 0, nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to load stripped state events for snapshot %d: %s", snapID, err)
-				}
-			}
-			newStripped, replacedNID, err := a.calculateNewSnapshot(oldStripped, ev)
+			// make a new snapshot
+			stateAfterEvent, replacedNID, err := a.calculateNewSnapshot(currentState, ev)
 			if err != nil {
 				return 0, nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to calculateNewSnapshot: %s", err)
 			}
 			replacesNID = replacedNID
-			memNIDs, otherNIDs := newStripped.NIDs()
-			newSnapshot := &SnapshotRow{
+			// claim one of our reserved snap IDs for this snapshot
+			afterSnapID := snapshotIDs[0]
+			snapshotIDs = snapshotIDs[1:]
+			// decide to insert a new snapshot row.
+			memNIDs, otherNIDs := stateAfterEvent.NIDs()
+			snapshotInserts = append(snapshotInserts, SnapshotRow{
+				SnapshotID:       afterSnapID,
 				RoomID:           roomID,
 				MembershipEvents: memNIDs,
 				OtherEvents:      otherNIDs,
-			}
-			if err = a.snapshotTable.Insert(txn, newSnapshot); err != nil {
-				return 0, nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to insert new snapshot: %w", err)
-			}
-			snapID = newSnapshot.SnapshotID
-		}
-		if err := a.eventsTable.UpdateBeforeSnapshotID(txn, ev.NID, beforeSnapID, replacesNID); err != nil {
-			return 0, nil, err
+			})
+			// This snapshot is now the current state of the room.
+			currentState = stateAfterEvent
+			currentSnapID = afterSnapID
 		}
+		eventsTableUpdates = append(eventsTableUpdates, beforeSnapshotUpdate{
+			NID:                   ev.NID,
+			BeforeStateSnapshotID: beforeSnapID,
+			ReplacesNID:           replacesNID,
+		})
 	}
 
+	// Now that we've worked out what we want to do, let's actually do it.
+	if len(snapshotInserts) > 0 {
+		if err = a.snapshotTable.BulkInsert(txn, snapshotInserts); err != nil {
+			return 0, nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to insert new snapshot: %w", err)
+		}
+	}
+	if err = a.eventsTable.UpdateBeforeSnapshotIDs(txn, eventsTableUpdates); err != nil {
+		return 0, nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to update beforeSnapshotIDs: %w", err)
+	}
 	if err = a.spacesTable.HandleSpaceUpdates(txn, newEvents); err != nil {
 		return 0, nil, fmt.Errorf("HandleSpaceUpdates: %s", err)
 	}
 
 	// the last fetched snapshot ID is the current one
 	info := a.roomInfoDelta(roomID, newEvents)
-	if err = a.roomsTable.Upsert(txn, info, snapID, latestNID); err != nil {
-		return 0, nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to UpdateCurrentSnapshotID to %d: %w", snapID, err)
+	if err = a.roomsTable.Upsert(txn, info, currentSnapID, latestNID); err != nil {
+		return 0, nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to UpdateCurrentSnapshotID to %d: %w", currentSnapID, err)
 	}
 	return numNew, timelineNIDs, nil
 }
@@ -484,6 +507,26 @@ func (a *Accumulator) filterAndParseTimelineEvents(txn *sqlx.Tx, roomID string,
 	return dedupedEvents[seenIndex+1:], nil
 }
 
+func countStateEvents(events []Event) (count int64) {
+	for _, event := range events {
+		if event.IsState {
+			count++
+		}
+	}
+	return count
+}
+
+func (a *Accumulator) fetchInitialSnapshot(txn *sqlx.Tx, snapID int64) (StrippedEvents, error) {
+	if snapID == 0 {
+		return StrippedEvents{}, nil
+	}
+	stripped, err := a.strippedEventsForSnapshot(txn, snapID)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to load stripped state events for snapshot %d: %w", snapID, err)
+	}
+	return stripped, nil
+}
+
 // Delta returns a list of events of at most `limit` for the room not including `lastEventNID`.
 // Returns the latest NID of the last event (most recent)
 func (a *Accumulator) Delta(roomID string, lastEventNID int64, limit int) (eventsJSON []json.RawMessage, latest int64, err error) {