Hello Mrs TC,
Your baby sounds very similar to one of mine (now over 2). Unfortunately if my case is anything to go by, there is not a lot you can do if you feel he's too young to be left to cry. I felt the same, by the way, and all the patting/swaddling techniques, gentle lullabies, mobiles etc in the world would not get him to sleep.
I had to continue rocking/walking/feeding my son to sleep until finally, when he was 13m old, I simply could not bear it any more and left him to cry in his cot. He screamed for 45 minutes and then went to sleep. The next night he screamed blue murder for 10 minutes and then fell asleep. The third night, after about 2 minutes crying, he went to sleep, and thereafter, he has gone to bed awake and settled himself to sleep.
The upshot of all this is that until you feel ready to 'leave him to cry' - or feel he's old enough for that - you will probably have to keep on with the present regime. And when you feel he's old enough, make sure someone else is around to help you cope during the screaming on the first night. Just hang in there and eventually it will stop, and the next night will be a lot easier. If you can get through three nights like I did you will find you have a much easier bedtime routine forever more!
In hindsight, I think I could have done this at about 6 months.
Hope this doesn't fill you with despair - and good luck.