diff --git a/database.cc b/database.cc
index e8126449e1..95712abae8 100644
--- a/database.cc
+++ b/database.cc
@@ -1639,9 +1639,30 @@ schema_ptr database::find_indexed_table(const sstring& ks_name, const sstring& i
     return nullptr;
 }
 
+future<> database::close_tables(table_kind kind_to_close) {
+    return parallel_for_each(_column_families, [this, kind_to_close](auto& val_pair) {
+        table_kind k = is_system_table(*val_pair.second->schema()) ? table_kind::system : table_kind::user;
+        if (k == kind_to_close) {
+            return val_pair.second->stop();
+        } else {
+            return make_ready_future<>();
+        }
+    });
+}
+
 future<> stop_database(sharded<database>& sdb) {
     return sdb.invoke_on_all([](database& db) {
         return db.get_compaction_manager().stop();
+    }).then([&sdb] {
+        // Closing a table can cause us to find a large partition. Since we want to record that, we have to close
+        // system.large_partitions after the regular tables.
+        return sdb.invoke_on_all([](database& db) {
+            return db.close_tables(database::table_kind::user);
+        });
+    }).then([&sdb] {
+        return sdb.invoke_on_all([](database& db) {
+            return db.close_tables(database::table_kind::system);
+        });
     }).then([&sdb] {
         return sdb.invoke_on_all([](database& db) {
             db.stop_large_data_handler();
@@ -1659,10 +1680,6 @@ database::stop() {
     // try to ensure that CL has done disk flushing
     future<> maybe_shutdown_commitlog = _commitlog != nullptr ? _commitlog->shutdown() : make_ready_future<>();
     return maybe_shutdown_commitlog.then([this] {
-        return parallel_for_each(_column_families, [this] (auto& val_pair) {
-            return val_pair.second->stop();
-        });
-    }).then([this] {
         return _view_update_concurrency_sem.wait(max_memory_pending_view_updates());
     }).then([this] {
         if (_commitlog != nullptr) {
diff --git a/database.hh b/database.hh
index ae55c6fd02..79e5699c71 100644
--- a/database.hh
+++ b/database.hh
@@ -1171,6 +1171,12 @@ struct database_config {
 //   use shard_of() for data
 
 class database {
+public:
+    enum class table_kind {
+        system,
+        user,
+    };
+
 private:
     ::cf_stats _cf_stats;
     static const size_t max_count_concurrent_reads{100};
@@ -1357,6 +1363,8 @@ public:
                                      std::optional<sstring> index_name_root) const;
     schema_ptr find_indexed_table(const sstring& ks_name, const sstring& index_name) const;
     future<> stop();
+    future<> close_tables(table_kind kind_to_close);
+
     void stop_large_data_handler();
     unsigned shard_of(const dht::token& t);
     unsigned shard_of(const mutation& m);
diff --git a/db/large_data_handler.cc b/db/large_data_handler.cc
index 0e6e6d236d..be2f152600 100644
--- a/db/large_data_handler.cc
+++ b/db/large_data_handler.cc
@@ -28,7 +28,8 @@
 namespace db {
 
 future<> large_data_handler::maybe_update_large_partitions(const sstables::sstable& sst, const sstables::key& key, uint64_t partition_size) const {
-    if (!_stopped && partition_size > _partition_threshold_bytes) {
+    assert(!_stopped);
+    if (partition_size > _partition_threshold_bytes) {
         ++_stats.partitions_bigger_than_threshold;
 
         const schema& s = *sst.get_schema();
diff --git a/db/large_data_handler.hh b/db/large_data_handler.hh
index 1d86d9a4e5..cd992347e5 100644
--- a/db/large_data_handler.hh
+++ b/db/large_data_handler.hh
@@ -68,9 +68,7 @@ public:
     future<> maybe_update_large_partitions(const sstables::sstable& sst, const sstables::key& partition_key, uint64_t partition_size) const;
 
     future<> maybe_delete_large_data_entries(const schema& s, const sstring& filename, uint64_t data_size) const {
-        if (_stopped) {
-            return make_ready_future<>();
-        }
+        assert(!_stopped);
         future<> large_partitions = make_ready_future<>();
         if (__builtin_expect(data_size > _partition_threshold_bytes, false)) {
             large_partitions = delete_large_partitions_entry(s, filename);