diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline.rs
index d46ac26e7d..0b00f72591 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline.rs
@@ -2843,7 +2843,6 @@ impl Timeline {
     ) -> Result<CompactLevel0Phase1Result, CompactionError> {
         let layers = self.layers.read().unwrap();
         let mut level0_deltas = layers.get_level0_deltas()?;
-        drop(layers);
 
         // Only compact if enough layers have accumulated.
         let threshold = self.get_compaction_threshold();
@@ -2964,7 +2963,6 @@ impl Timeline {
         // Determine N largest holes where N is number of compacted layers.
         let max_holes = deltas_to_compact.len();
         let last_record_lsn = self.get_last_record_lsn();
-        let layers = self.layers.read().unwrap(); // Is'n it better to hold original layers lock till here?
         let min_hole_range = (target_file_size / page_cache::PAGE_SZ as u64) as i128;
         let min_hole_coverage_size = 3; // TODO: something more flexible?
 
@@ -2997,7 +2995,6 @@ impl Timeline {
             }
             prev = Some(next_key.next());
         }
-        drop(layers);
         let mut holes = heap.into_vec();
         holes.sort_unstable_by_key(|hole| hole.key_range.start);
         let mut next_hole = 0; // index of next hole in holes vector
@@ -3163,7 +3160,7 @@ impl Timeline {
         }
 
         drop(all_keys_iter); // So that deltas_to_compact is no longer borrowed
-
+        drop(layers);
         Ok(CompactLevel0Phase1Result {
             new_layers,
             deltas_to_compact,