The borough consisted of the town of Saltash, a market town facing Plymouth and Devonport across the Tamar estuary, and the inhabitants by 1831 were mainly fishermen or Devonport dockworkers.
The borough comprised the town of Saltash, a commercial center adjacent to Plymouth and Devonport across the Tamar estuary, inhabited predominantly by fishermen or workers at Devonport docks by 1831.