Ellenborough is a parish and village straddling the Oxley Highway and the Ellenborough River, less than one kilometre south of its confluence with the Hastings River. The village is about 38 km west of Wauchope and approximately 130 km east of Walcha. The boundaries are within the Port Macquarie-Hastings Council and Macquarie County. The village was named by the surveyor and explorer, John Oxley, after Edward Law, 1st Baron Ellenborough, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales.