Shakespeare Cliff named after the English writer William Shakespeare, the cliff was one time known as 'Hay Cliff' there is a housing estate which is now on the lower slopes of the Cliff named Aycliff Estate, it has roads named King Lear & Gloucester Way and The King Lear Public House. In 1605 Shakespeare's theater company known as the 'King's Men' visited Dover, the play includes a scene on Dover's Shakespeare Cliff'. In the scene the blinded Earl of Gloucester intended to jump from the cliff, asks Edgar to lead him to Dover.

This 350 foot massive majestic lump of chalk rises from the shores of England overlooking the English Channel being the nearest point of England to main land Europe. The View from the summit Eastwards, beyond the harbour and the lower part of the town, the Castle and the coast as far as the South Foreland can be clearly seen. In the other direction, Folkestone Harbour, seawards the busy shipping of the English Channel, landward a pleasant valley.

King Lear Act IV Scene 1

Earl of Gloucester: Dost thou know Dover?
Edgar: Ay, master
Earl of Gloucester: There is a cliff whose high and bending head 
Looks fearfully in the confined deep Bring me but to the very brim of it,
And I'll repair the misery thou dost bear
With something rich about me: from
that place
I shall no leading need.

" There is a cliff, whose high and bending head Looks fearfully on the confined deep. Come on, sir ; here's the place : stand still. How fearful And dizzy 'tis to cast one's eyes so low ! The crows and choughs that wing the midway air Show scarce so large as beetles ; half-way down Hangs one that gathers Samphire dreadful trade ! Methinks he looks no bigger than his head ! The fishermen that walk upon the beach Appear like mice ; and yon tall anchoring bark, Diminished to her cok ; her cok a buoy, Almost too small for sight. The murmuring surge, That on the unnumbered pebbles chafes, Cannot be heard so high. I'll look no more, Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight Topple down headlong."

King Henry VI part II 1590

In act IV scene I William de la Poole Duke of Suffolk is murdered on the sea shore near Dover, the actual event took place in 1450 when William de la Poole was beheaded at sea whilst crossing the channel.