The woman was rescued from the water by Tynemouth RNLI and the South Shields Volunteer Life Brigade but later died.
The police received a call at 3.30pm on Sunday, 30 October, after a woman was spotted on the wrong side of the barriers by the Marsden Grotto in South Shields.
The police, Coastguard and the fire services were promptly at the scene and tried to speak to her, however moments later she fell from the cliffs into the sea.
Tynemouth RNLI rescued her with the help of the South Shields Volunteer Life Brigade.
She was given assistance by paramedics who were waiting in an ambulance but sadly she later died in hospital.
A spokesman from Northumbria Police said: “Inquiries are ongoing into her death. Her identity is not yet known at this stage.”
The woman has yet to be named.