diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/compaction.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/compaction.rs
index 5aaef8db0c..73f6691f14 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/compaction.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/compaction.rs
@@ -1244,6 +1244,10 @@ impl Timeline {
         let mut replace_image_layers = Vec::new();
 
         for layer in layers_to_rewrite {
+            if self.cancel.is_cancelled() {
+                return Err(CompactionError::ShuttingDown);
+            }
+
             tracing::info!(layer=%layer, "Rewriting layer after shard split...");
             let mut image_layer_writer = ImageLayerWriter::new(
                 self.conf,