Fortified during the Roman period, in the 1550s, Salta participated in a system called "seawake", a night watch to guard the coast against incursions across the Solway by the Scots.

Salta Moss was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1954 and forms part of the Solway Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

It is home to a diversity of wildlife, including Adders, Britain's only native venomous snake, and several varieties of heather, as well as the purple moor grass Molinia caerulea.

[3] After the arrival of Romans in Britain, the area around Salta was fortified as part of the coastal defences which extended beyond the western end of Hadrian's Wall.

By the 1550s, Salta participated in a system called "seawake", which was a night watch to guard the coast against incursions across the Solway by the Scots.

[5] Development in the 20th century saw new houses built, but mainline water and electricity arrived later than in other parts of Britain, perhaps due to the small population.

[8] It shares very close community ties with nearby Mawbray,[4] although the city of Carlisle provides wider amenities, some 25.1 miles (40.4 km) to the northeast.

[10] It combines characteristics of both a raised bog and a valley mire, and lies atop deposits of glacial sand from the last ice age.

[11] Having been cut with irrigation channels, and been the site of burning and peat working, Salta Moss has different flora than other bogs or mires on the Solway Plain.

[11] The Moss today is common ground, but a track runs through it to provide access for local farmers to outlying fields, which surround it.

[11] There is some concern that areas of the Moss have been damaged or partly destroyed as a result of agricultural activity, including the digging of drainage ditches.

Most of the houses are fairly modern bungalows, such as those named Barnfield, Heather Moor, Moss View and Tamberry, although there are older two-floor cottages on either side of the hamlet.

[22] Modern Salta is a predominantly Christian community,[23] though the local Church is located at Holme St Cuthbert, several miles away.