Hi Vicky,
I just read your post after posting a question myself. I have a 7 month old too and am not one of the resident baby whisperers so definitely don't have all of the answers but as a fellow mum of a 7 month old thought I would write something.
I recently moved my son into his own room, he was in a cot in my room (previously having been in my bed in a sleepyhead) and I felt distraught..I was sobbing that he was gone, silly I know. I think your plan of lowering the angle sounds very good. I would definitely take things gradually for your sake and his. If you feel he is frightened by not being able to reach out for you then you are probably correct. Would putting something that smells of you in his cot help? laying him on your t-shirt/dressing gown? or a comforter that you have cuddled?
Perhaps aim to get him to sleep holding your hand, rather than being held/breast fed?
I am going to start working on getting my son to go to sleep in his cot without being held, more so because he is getting very heavy to hold. At the moment I feed him and then there is a 30 or so minute gap between his feed and going to bed (because he suffers from wind so better for his digestion). Then we have a big cuddle, I walk him around his room in a very dim light and I sing his bedtime song. Sometimes he will go down into his cot very slightly awake and otherwise he is already asleep. I would like to get to the point where we have a cuddle then he goes into his cot semi awake and I read him a story to sleep..fingers crossed!
How have the naps gone today?