diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/xapian/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/xapian/default.nix
index f93f7ed87460..7b92c1c66cd7 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/xapian/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/xapian/default.nix
@@ -11,13 +11,6 @@ let
       inherit sha256;
     };
 
-    patches = stdenv.lib.optional (version == "1.4.7") [
-      # fix notmuch build, see https://notmuchmail.org/faq/#index12h2
-      # cannot fetchpatch this because base directory differs
-      # TODO: remove on next xapian update
-      ./fix-notmuch-tagging.patch
-    ];
-
     outputs = [ "out" "man" "doc" ];
 
     buildInputs = [ libuuid zlib ];
@@ -43,5 +36,5 @@ let
 in {
   # xapian-ruby needs 1.2.22 as of 2017-05-06
   xapian_1_2_22 = generic "1.2.22" "0zsji22n0s7cdnbgj0kpil05a6bgm5cfv0mvx12d8ydg7z58g6r6";
-  xapian_1_4 = generic "1.4.7" "1lxmlds3v5s1gng9nk1rvmln1zcksrw5ds509y0glylwch5qmw0k";
+  xapian_1_4 = generic "1.4.8" "0528841hn5lddaa317ax3i3d01zf1izpzh4njiz6s84mxpn06q6s";
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/xapian/fix-notmuch-tagging.patch b/pkgs/development/libraries/xapian/fix-notmuch-tagging.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index 6deae76d2aa7..000000000000
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/xapian/fix-notmuch-tagging.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,31 +0,0 @@
-From f9e6f45b1c8f66bca8a3387f371b20d434b23a7d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
-From: Olly Betts <olly@survex.com>
-Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2018 17:26:52 +1200
-Subject: [PATCH 1/1] Revert "Enable open_nearby_postlist for writable
- databases"
-
-The amended check isn't conservative enough as there may be postlist
-changes in the inverter while the table is unmodified.  This breaks
-testcase T150-tagging.sh in notmuch's testsuite, reported by David
-Bremner.
-
-This reverts commit 5489fb2f838c0f0b0a593b4c17df282a93a1fe5a.
----
- xapian-core/backends/glass/glass_postlist.cc | 2 +-
- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
-
-diff --git a/xapian-core/backends/glass/glass_postlist.cc b/xapian-core/backends/glass/glass_postlist.cc
-index 80e578b85..a47f14a68 100644
---- a/backends/glass/glass_postlist.cc
-+++ b/backends/glass/glass_postlist.cc
-@@ -759,7 +759,7 @@ GlassPostList::open_nearby_postlist(const std::string & term_,
-     (void)need_pos;
-     if (term_.empty())
- 	RETURN(NULL);
--    if (!this_db.get() || this_db->postlist_table.is_modified())
-+    if (!this_db.get() || this_db->postlist_table.is_writable())
- 	RETURN(NULL);
-     RETURN(new GlassPostList(this_db, term_, cursor->clone()));
- }
--- 
-2.11.0